tihtaxy  of  trhe  trheolojical  ^emmarjp 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


•a^D' 


PRESENTED  BY 

Delavan  L.  Pierson 


BV  3202  .J4  A3  1910  v. 2  c.2 
J  essup,  Henry  Harris, 

1832-1910. 
Fifty-three  years  in  Syria 


Fifty-Three  Years  in  Syria 


HENRY  H.  JESSUP 
Taken  when  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly. 


^0gi  *  i-m^j 


^j" 


.££^  ''^    1951 


Fifty-Three  Years 
In    Syria 


By 
HENRY  HARRIS  JESSUP,  D.D. 

Introduction  by  James  S.  Dermis,  D.  D. 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES 

VOLUME  II 


New  York         Chicago         Toronto 

Fleming    H.    Re  veil    Company 

London    and      Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1910,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  80  Wabash  Avenue 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:      100    Princes    Street 


Contents 


SECOND  VOLUME 


XIX.  Notable  Visitors  and  Converts 

XX.  A  Cholera  Year     . 

XXI.  Helps  and  Hindrances    . 

XXII.  Mission  Schools 

XXIII.  Sketches  (1887) 

XXIV.  Three  Years  of  Progress  (1888) 

XXV.  Marking  Time 

XXVI.  A  New  Century  Dawns  (1899-1900) 

XXVII.  The  Whitening  Fields  (1901-1902) 

XXVIII.  My  Latest  Furlough — Years  1903-1904 

XXIX.  Jubilee  Times  (1905-1907) 

XXX.  What    Shall   the    Harvest    Be  ? — January 

1908-MAY  1909  . 
Appendices  : 

I.  Missionaries  in   Syria  Mission  from  18 19  to 


II.  The  History — Bibliography 

III.  American  Medical  Missionaries  and  Agencies 

in  Syria  Mission    ..... 

IV.  List  of  Mission  Schools  of  the   Presbyterian 

Board  of  Foreign  Missions  in  Beirut  and 
Damascus,  and  in  the  Mutserfiyet  of 
Lebanon        ...... 

V.  Outline  of  the  History  of  the  Syria  Mission 

of  the  American  Presbyterian  Church  and 
Contemporary  Events,  18  20- 1900  . 

VI.  "Figures,"     1908-1909 — Statistics    of    the 

Syria  Mission  ..... 

VII.  Statistics    of  the    Syrian    Protestant    College 

from  1 866  to  1 906         .... 
Index      ....... 


405 

467 
508 
526 

533 

572 
664 
695 
719 

753 
781 


797 
801 

802 


805 

809 

814 

819 
821 


Illustrations 

SECOND  VOLUME 


Dr.  Jessup  ....... 

College  Hall,  Syrian  Protestant  College 

Mission  Group  ...... 

A  View  of  Lebanon     ...... 

A  View  in  the  Lebanon        ..... 

Hasroun,  A  Lebanon  Village         .... 

Geo.  E.  Post  Science  Hall,  Syrian  Protestant  College 

Assembly  Hall,  Syrian  Protestant  College 

Sarcophagus  of  Alexander  the  Great.    Sarcophagus  of  Weeping  Women 

Front  View  of  Gerard  Institute,  Sidon    . 

Dar  es  Salaam  Orphanage.     Gerard  Institute  Pupils 

Asfuriyeh  Hospital.     General  View 

Pietro's  Hotel,  1875  . 

Jedaan  the  Bedawy 

Kamil  Aietany    . 

Syrian  Mission  in  1893  with  Drs. 

Gorge  of  Nahr  Barada 

American  Press  . 

The  Damascus  to  Mecca  Railway 

Beirut  Memorial  Column 

Daniel  Bliss  Hall 

Mission  Stations 

The  Seventieth  Birthday  Picnic. 

Yusef  Ahtiyeh,  Kasim  Beg  Amin 

Dr.  Daniel  Bliss  in  1905 

Syrian  Churches  and  Houses 

Group  of  Syrian  Teachers  and  Preachers 

Interior  of  the  Chapel  of  the  Protestant  College,  Beirut 

Group  of  Syrian  Churches    ..... 

Plan  of  the  American  Mission  Property  . 


Bliss  and  Post 


Ancient  Mule  Bridge 


Facing  page 
Title 


412 
429 
440 
456 
465 
480 
490 
507 

516 

521 

530 
541 
559 
570 

585 
590 
601 
618 
630 
680 
690 
700 
711 
720 
730 
737 
749 
781 


XIX 

Notable  Visitors  and  Converts 

The  one-eyed  kadi — Mr.  Roosevelt — Two  great  sheikhs — The  new 
bell — Wm.  E.  Dodge — Abu  Selim  and  Moosa  Ata — The  monthly  con- 
cert at  home. 

AT  the  close  of  1873  the  stations  were  manned  as  follows  : 
Beirut,  Drs.  Thomson,  Van  Dyck,  Dennis,  and  H.  H. 
Jessup. 

Abeih,  Messrs.  Calhoun  and  Bird. 

Sidon,  Messrs.  W.  W.  Eddy  and  Pond. 

Tripoli,  Messrs.  S.  Jessup  and  Hardin,  and  Dr.  Danforth. 

Zahleh,  Messrs.  Dale,  Wood,  and  March. 

The  theological  seminary  was  opened  in  Beirut  in  premises 
adjoining  Dr.  Dennis's  house,  the  teachers  being  Dr.  Dennis, 
Dr.  C.  V.  A.  Van  Dyck,  Dr.  Wm.  M.  Thomson,  and  my- 
self. 

The  Syrian  Protestant  College  at  this  time  had  eighty-four 
students  in  all  its  departments  and  all  its  friends  were  much  en- 
couraged. They  Httle  thought  that  in  1907  the  number  would 
be  878. 

In  September  the  notable  meeting  of  the  International  Evan- 
gelical Alliance,  postponed  from  1870  on  account  of  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War,  was  held  in  New  York.  My  paper  on  "  Missions 
to  the  Oriental  Churches  "  was  read  in  my  absence  by  my  dear 
friend,  Rev.  D,  Stuart  Dodge,  It  was  subsequently  the  basis  of  a 
booklet  on  "The  Greek  Church  and  Protestant  Missions,"  written 
at  the  request  of  the  Christian  Literature  Society  of  New  York 

405 


4o6  Notable  Visitors  and  Converts 

and  a  special  edition  of  which  was  published  in  England  by  ray 
friends,  Canon  H.  B.  Tristram  and  Rev.  H.  E.  Fox,  and  sent  to 
hundreds  of  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  object 
of  this  act  of  Canon,  Tristramswas  to  counteract  the  efforts  of  the 
High  Church  Anglican  Clergy  to  fraternize  with  the  Greek 
Church  ecclesiastics,  ignoring  the  anti-scriptural  teachings  of  the 
Greek  Church.  A  reformation  of  the  Greek  Church  is  possible, 
but  not  very  probable.  With  education  and  the  Bible  the  people 
some  day  will  demand  the  abolition  of  Mariolatry  and  ikon  wor- 
ship. 

Early  in  March  Dr.  Van  Dyck,  manager  of  the  press,  was  sent 
for  by  Kamil  Pasha,  the  governor,  to  come  to  the  seraia,  as  he 
was  about  to  shut  up  the  press  for  a  violation  of  the  press  laws. 
Dr.  Van  Dyck  proceeded  to  the  seraia  and  asked  the  pasha  what 
he  meant.  The  pasha,  holding  up  a  little  tract,  said,  "  Was  this 
printed  at  your  press  ?  "  "Yes."  "Then  it  must  be  confiscated, 
as  it  contains  an  attack  on  the  Turkish  government."  Dr.  Van 
Dyck  asked,  "^Wherein  does  it  attack  the  government  ?  "  The 
pasha  pointed  out  several  passages  which  criticized  the  bribery 
and  corruption  everywhere  prevalent,  perjury  and  lying  among 
witnesses  and  public  officials ;  and  the  fact  that  "  truth  had  fallen 
in  the  streets  and  equity  could  not  enter."  Dr.  Van  Dyck  re- 
plied, "  Are  not  these  statements  true  ?  Your  Excellency  ought 
to  put  a  copy  into  the  hands  of  every  government  official  in 
your  pashahc.  Is  it  not  so  ?  "  asked  the  doctor.  "  Yes,"  said 
the  pasha,  "  but  we  don't  like  to  be  so  constantly  reminded  of  it. 
Have  you  never  heard  the  story  of  the  Kadi  el  Ah-war  ?  "  (/.  e.^ 
the  one-eyed  judge).  "  And  what  is  that  ?  "  asked  the  doctor, 
"  Well,  once  there  was  a  famous  one-eyed  kadi.  One  day  a 
man  came  into  the  court  and  addressed  him  as  follows :  '  Good- 
morning,  oh,  one-eyed  kadi !  May  your  day  be  blessed,  oh,  one- 
eyed  kadi.  I  have  heard  of  the  noble  character  and  justice  of 
the  one-eyed  kadi,  and  I  would  ask  the  distinguished  and  revered 
one-eyed  kadi  to  do  me  justice,'  and, '  Stop,'  said  the  kadi, '  sup- 
posing I  am  one-eyed,  do  I  want  to  be  everlastingly  reminded  of 
.  it  ?    Get  out  of  my  sight,' 


Roosevelt  and  the  Donkey  407 

"  And  so,"  said  the  pasha,  "  we  know  that  these  reflections  on 
our  country  and  our  courts  are  true,  but  we  don't  want  to  be 
pubhcly  reminded  of  them.  Who  wrote  that  tract?"  The 
doctor  explained  that  it  was  a  prize  tract  on  veracity  and  the 
prize  was  won  by  Rev.  Sarafim  Potaji  of  Shefa-Amr  near 
Nazareth.  But  the  pasha  insisted  that  it  be  destroyed.  The 
doctor  withdrew  and  the  case  was  taken  up  by  the  British 
consulate,  as  the  tracts  belonged  to  the  London  Tract  Society. 
Then  the  pasha  insisted  that  the  consul  seal  them  up  in  a  box 
and  send  them  out  of  Syria.  The  consul  sent  a  dragoman  and 
sealed  the  box  and  left  it  at  the  press.  Dr.  Van  Dyck  sent  and 
asked  the  consul  to  remove  the  box.  He  did  not  do  it.  Then 
the  doctor  gave  him  a  week's  notice  that  if  it  were  not  taken 
away  in  that  time  the  press  would  not  be  responsible  for  its  safe- 
keeping. The  British  consul  never  sent  for  it  and  it  disappeared, 
being  scattered  throughout  the  land. 

The  prohibition  by  the  Sultan  of  all  criticism  in  the  newspaper 
press  is  one  great  cause  of  the  universal  official  corruption  in  the 
empire.  Bribery  exists  in  civilized  lands,  but  is  kept  at  a 
minimum  through  fear  of  exposure  in  the  press.  Here  there  i^ 
no  such  fear,  and  it  is  at  a  maximum.  f 

On  Saturday,  March  22d,  I  called  at  the  hotel  on  Mr. 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  Sr.,  of  New  York,  and  the  next  day  he 
spoke  to  our  Arabic  Sunday-school  on  his  work  among  the 
newsboys  of  New  York.  His  son  Theodore  was  with  him  and 
was  a  boon  companion  of  Frederick  and  Howard  Bliss,  sons  of 
Dr.  Daniel  Bliss.  The  three  boys  rode  together  on  one  donkey, 
the  property  of  Mrs.  Bliss.  One  of  those  boys  is  now  President 
of  the  United  States,  while  another  is  president  of  the  Syrian 
Protestant  College,  and,  as  a  witty  Arab  remarked  on  hearing 
this  reminiscence,  "  The  donkey  is  now  the  Waly  of ." 

Mr.  Roosevelt  gave  ;^500  to  the  college  in  Beirut.  His  visit 
was  memorable  and  an  inspiration  to  young  and  old. 

In  February,  1 871,  we  were  favoured  with  a  visit  from  a  cele- 
brated Arab  sheikh,  the  noted  Sheikh  Mohammed  Smeir  Ibn  ed 
Dukhy,  the  emir  of  the  Anazeh  tribe,  who  can  command  ten 


4o8  Notable  Visitors  and  Converts 

thousand  horsemen  and  who  receives  280,000  piastres  annually 
from  the  Turkish  government  to  keep  the  Bedawin  in  order. 

He  had  just  sent  off  a  detachment  of  his  tribe  with  the  great 
Mohammedan  caravan  of  pilgrims  from  Damascus  to  Mecca  and 
was  sent  for  by  Rashid  Pasha,  Waly  of  Syria,  to  come  to  meet 
him  in  Beirut.  While  here,  he  was  the  guest  of  a  friend  of  ours 
and  we  invited  him  to  call.  He  came  on  Thursday,  February  2d, 
at  2  p.  M.,  first  calling  at  my  house  and  then  at  the  female 
seminary.  He  looked  through  the  institution  and  after  examin- 
ing the  appearance  of  the  pupils,  turned  to  them  and  said,  "  Our 
Bedawin  girls  would  learn  as  much  in  six  months  as  you  learn 
in  two  years."  I  told  him  we  would  like  to  see  the  experiment 
tried.  He  said,  "  Perhaps  it  may  be  some  day."  Our  friend  had 
informed  us  that  although  the  sheikh  could  not  read,  one  of  his 
wives  could  both  read  and  write  well,  being  the  daughter  of  a 
sheikh  near  Hamath,  so  we  had  prepared  an  elegant  copy  of  the 
Arabic  Bible  bound  in  green  and  gilt  with  a  waterproof  case  to 
prevent  injury  on  his  long  return  journey  of  twelve  days  into  the 
desert,  and  when  we  reached  the  press  it  was  presented  to  him. 
He  received  it  with  the  greatest  respect  and  asked  what  he  would 
find  in  it.  We  told  him  it  was  the  complete  •'  Tourah  "  and 
"  Ingeel "  (Old  and  New  Testaments)  and  he  said  it  would  be 
profitable  to  read  about  Ibrahim  the  friend  of  God,  and  Ishmael 
the  father  of  the  Arabs,  and  Moosa  (Moses)  and  Soleyman  the 
king  and  Aieesa  or  Jesus  the  son  of  Mary.  The  electrotype 
apparatus  deeply  interested  him  but  when  Mr.  Hallock  showed 
him  the  steam  cylinder  press  rolling  off  the  printed  sheets  with 
so  great  rapidity  and  exactness,  he  stood  back  and  remarked  in 
the  most  deliberate  manner,  "  The  man  who  made  that  press  can 
conquer  everything  but  death."  It  seemed  some  satisfaction  to 
him  that  in  the  matter  of  death  the  Bedawy  was  on  a  level  with 
the  European.^ 

From  the  press  the  sheikh  went  to  the  church  and  after  gazing 

'  Mr.  Waldmeier,  who  was  formerly  in  Abyssinia  and  is  now  in  Beirut, 
informs  me  that  one  of  the  Abyssinian  princes  once  made  a  precisely 
similar  remark  when  looking  at  a  piece  of  European  machinery. 


Nasif  el  Yazigy  409 

around  on  the  pure  white  walls,  remarked,  "  There  is  the  Book, 
but  there  are  no  pictures.     You  worship  only  God  here." 

He  was  anxious  to  see  the  tower  clock,  and  although  he  has 
lost  one  arm  and  had  the  other  nearly  paralyzed  by  a  musket 
shot  in  the  desert  wars,  he  said  he  would  climb  up  the  long 
ladder  to  see  that  clock,  whose  striking  he  had  heard  at  the  other 
end  of  the  city.  So  up  he  went  and  it  would  have  done  the 
maker,  Mr.  Hotchkiss  of  Cortlandt  Street,  New  York,  great  good 
to  see  this  son  of  the  desert  gazing  admiringly  upon  that  beautiful 
piece  of  mechanism.  We  helped  him  down  the  ladder,  greatly 
to  his  relief,  and  then  he  went  to  the  college  where  he  heard 
Dr.  Van  Dyck  deliver  a  lecture  on  chemistry,  and  the  doctor 
performed  several  brilliant  experiments  for  his  benefit.  Dr.  Bliss 
showed  him  the  large  electrical  machine  and  he  took  several 
severe  shocks  in  hopes  of  deriving  benefit  to  his  left  arm. 

The  botanical  collection,  the  library  of  Arabic  books,  the 
cabinets  of  minerals  and  fossils,  and  the  anatomical  museum  all 
interested  him  and  he  finally  left  us  expressing  his  gratitude  for 
what  he  had  been  permitted  to  see,  and  especially  for  the  Book. 
He  left  by  diligence  stage  early  the  next  morning  for  Damascus 
and  was  soon  in  the  desert  again  as  another  tribe  had  revolted 
and  he  hastened  to  quell  the  revolt. 

On  Wednesday,  February  8,  1871,  one  of  the  notable  char- 
acters of  Syria  died  in  Beirut,  Sheikh  Nasif  el  Yazigy  was  the 
greatest  living  Arabic  poet,  author  of  fourteen  different  works  in 
Arabic,  and  formerly  for  years  the  companion  and  assistant  of 
Dr.  Eli  Smith  in  the  translation  of  the  Bible  into  Arabic.  He  died 
aged  seventy-one  years.  He  had  been  partially  paralyzed  for 
two  years  past  but  never  forgot  Dr.  Eli  Smith.  He  often  said  to 
me,  "  When  Dr.  Smith  was  on  his  death-bed  he  preached  to  me 
a  sermon  which  I  have  not  forgotten  and  never  can  forget.  No, 
sir,  I  cannot  forget  it.     Dr.  Smith  was  a  man  of  God." 

An  immense  crowd  followed  the  sheikh  to  his  grave,  among 
them  nearly  800  pupils  from  the  schools  and  seminaries  of  Beirut, 
a  noble  tribute  to  his  great  learning.  Such  a  sight  had  not  been 
seen  in  Beirut  since  the  days  of  Justinian. 


41  o  Notable  Visitors  and  Converts 

On  Sunday,  February  12th,  the  little  stone  church  in  Kefr 
Shima,  six  miles  from  Beirut,  was  dedicated,  with  more  of  state 
and  formality  than  had  been  known  by  any  Protestant  church  in 
Syria.  Among  those  present  were  H.  E.  Franco  Pasha,  Governor 
of  Lebanon,  Mr.  Johnson,  American  consul-general,  Mr.  El- 
dridge,  H.  B.  M.  consul-general,  Mr.  T.  Weber,  German  consul- 
general.  Dr.  Daniel  Bliss,  president  of  the  Syrian  Protestant 
College,  Dr.  Thomson,  several  of  the  Prussian  deaconesses  who 
had  pupils  in  the  village  and  a  great  crowd  of  Syrian  villagers.  I 
preached  the  Arabic  dedication  sermon.  Five  years  later  I 
preached  the  same  sermon  at  the  dedication  of  the  churches  in 
Judaideh  and  Zahleh.  At  the  latter  place  the  kaimakam  (a 
Papal  Greek)  was  present,  and  a  fortnight  later  sent  a  formal 
complaint  to  Rustam  Pasha  that  I  had  taken  advantage  of  the 
presence  of  Roman  Catholic  officials  to  attack  the  Holy  Catholic 
Church.  The  pasha  sent  the  complaint  to  the  British  consul,  to 
whom  I  sent  a  copy  of  the  sermon  reminding  him  that  it  was  the 
same  one  I  delivered  before  Franco  Pasha  and  himself  and  others 
in  1 87 1.  I  heard  no  further  complaint.  It  was  afterwards 
proved  that  the  complaint  was  instigated  by  the  Jesuit  priests  of 
Zahleh.i 

On  Saturday  morning,  April  15,  1871,  the  American  bark 
Marguerita  Blanca  came  into  port  bringing  the  new  church  bell. 
The  captain  said  that  he  had  a  tempestuous  voyage  across  the 
Atlantic  and  for  three  days  gave  up  all  hope  of  deliverance.  The 
bulwarks  of  the  vessel  were  carried  away,  10,000  feet  of  lumber 
on  the  deck  were  swept  overboard,  the  kitchen  and  water  casks 
were  swept  away,  and  the  bell  was  about  the  only  thing  that 
remained.     The  fixtures  were  in  the  cabin  and  although  the  sea 

^  In  January,  1878,  Mr.  James  Black,  a  noble  specimen  of  the  British 
Christian  merchant,  whose  word  was  sworn  by  both  by  Moslems  and  Chris- 
tians, and  who  had  taught  the  Syrians  a  lasting  lesson  in  business 
integrity,  erected  at  his  own  expense  a  bell  tower  on  the  Kefr  Shima 
church,  which  stands  to-day  a  monument  of  his  liberality  and  true  Chris- 
tian zeal.  His  self  denying  labours  in  the  erection  of  the  Beirut  church 
are  commemorated  in  a  beautiful  white  baptismal  font  erected  after  his 
death  by  the  congregation. 


The  American  Bell — Dr.  Clark's  Visit  411 

broke  in  and  deluged  the  cabin,  nothing  Avas  damaged.  The 
only  effect  that  we  could  observe  was  that  the  yoke  of  the  bell 
(which  was  evidently  meant  to  be  a  revolving  yoke  so  as  to 
change  the  place  of  the  stroke  of  the  tongue)  was  so  firmly  welded 
on  to  the  bell  by  rust  that  we  found  it  impossible  to  remove  it 
when  elevating  the  bell  into  the  tower.  We  were  thankful  how- 
ever that  it  was  not  lost  during  that  Atlantic  hurricane. 

Ten  porters  brought  it  up  from  the  custom-house  swung  be- 
tween two  oak  poles,  and  a  fine  set  of  tackle  blocks  from  the 
American  bark  enabled  Mr.  Hallock,  our  efficient  press  agent  and 
electrotypist,  to  hoist  it  into  place  with  comparative  ease.  It  is 
the  largest  bell  in  Syria  and  its  clear  sweet  tones  can  be  heard  to 
the  very  suburbs  of  this  widely  scattered  city. 

We  were  honoured  in  1 871  by  a  visit  from  Rev.  N.  G.  Clark, 
secretary  of  the  American  Board,  and  Rev.  George  W.  Wood, 
D.  D.,  who  after  labouring  as  a  missionary  in  Singapore  and  Con- 
stantinople and  then  as  district  secretary  of  the  Board  in  New 
York  was  returning  to  Constantinople  to  renew  the  work  he  so 
much  loved.  Dr.  Clark's  visit  was  especially  gratifying.  We  had 
separated  from  the  American  Board,  but  not  from  the  love  and 
confidence  of  this  beloved  man  with  whom  we  had  corresponded 
for  years.  He  had  often  intimated  that  we  should  not  erect  ex- 
pensive buildings  on  mission  ground,  and  he  had  many  misgivings 
when  we  were  building  the  girls'  school,  the  church,  the  Bible 
depository  and  press.  But  on  this  visit  he  expressed  his  gratifi- 
cation with  all  he  saw  in  Beirut.  He  said,  "  Brethren,  you  are 
right.  These  buildings  are  a  credit  to  your  taste  and  judgment. 
Protestantism  looks  as  if  it  had  come  to  Syria  to  stay  and  not 
merely  to  pitch  a  tent  and  then  decamp.  There  should  be  sub- 
stantial buildings  of  a  superior  character  in  our  chief  centres  of 
labour  and  influence."  He  was  delighted  with  the  large  plot  of 
ground  owned  by  the  college  at  Ras  Beirut  and  gave  the  mission 
much  credit  for  wisdom  and  broad  views,  as  might  be  expected 
from  a  man  of  such  large  experience  and  wide  observation  as  he 
is.  The  purchase  of  that  college  site  is  universally  regarded  as 
one  of  the  master-strokes  of  Dr.  Daniel  Bliss,  and  it  is  to  this 


412  Notable  Visitors  and  Converts 

day  (1908)  still  looked  upon  as  the  finest  college  site  in  the 
East.i 

In  December,  1871,  we  were  favoured  with  a  visit  from  the 
Hon.  Wm.  E.  Dodge  and  Mrs.  Dodge.  Their  presence  was  a 
benediction.  They  showed  interest  in  every  detail  of  all  depart- 
ments of  our  work,  and  his  laying  the  corner-stone  of  College 
Hall  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College,  December  7th,  was  an  oc- 
casion long  to  be  remembered.  An  immense  crowd  assembled 
and  Mr.  Dodge  made  a  brief  but  eloquent  address.  His  son 
Stuart,  after  accompanying  his  parents  to  Egypt,  returned  here 
and  laboured  for  many  months  with  Dr.  Bliss  during  the  prog- 
ress of  the  new  edifice.  The  use  of  iron  beams  and  flat  stone 
arches  between  the  girders,  for  the  first  time  in  Syria,  awakened 
great  interest.  The  building,  finally  completed  in  1872,  is  a 
monument  to  their  patient  and  faithful  attention  to  all  the  details 
of  the  architect's  plans.  The  same  may  be  said  of  all  those  who 
superintended  the  construction  of  all  the  buildings  on  the  college 
campus.  The  names  of  Hon.  Wm.  E.  Dodge  and  Dr.  D.  Stuart 
Dodge  will  be  forever  linked  with  the  history  and  success  of  the 
Syrian  Protestant  College. 

The  closing  months  of  1871  were  full  of  hope  and  cheer.  The 
congregations  in  Beirut  were  crowded  and  the  Sunday-school 
flourishing,  the  church-members  active  and  willing  to  work,  and 
some  twenty  young  people  asking  admission  to  the  church. 
Rev.  Samuel  Jessup  had  returned  from  Scotland  to  Tripoli  and 
been  joined  by  Rev.  O.  J.  Hardin  and  Galen  B.  Danforth,  M.  D., 
who  had  married  Miss  Emily  Calhoun  of  Abeih.  Rev.  and  Mrs. 
Frank  Wood  had  arrived  in  November  and  were  stationed  in 
Sidon.  Dr.  Danforth  opened  a  clinic  in  Tripoli  which  was 
thronged,  and  the  faithful  Moslem  friend,  Saleh  Sabony,  was  con- 
stant in  his  attendance,  aiding  the  doctor  for  three  and  one-half 
years  till  his  death,  July,  1875,  and  keeping  the  crowded  throng 
of  patients  in  order. 

^  Dr.  Bliss  states  that  John  Jay  Phelps,  father-in-law  of  Rev.  D.  Stuart 
Dodge,  was  the  first  person  to  insist  on  the  purchase  of  the  Ras  Beirut 
property. 


The  Druse  Cataclysm  Indefinitely  Postponed     413 

At  this  time  I  conducted  the  Sunday-school  of  300  scholars 
preached  in  Arabic  twice  every  Sunday,  Monday  evening  held  a 
neighbourhood  prayer-meeting,  Wednesday  a  class  of  catechu- 
mens, Wednesday  evening  a  Bible  class  of  eighty  young  men,  Friday 
morning  short  services  at  three  boarding-schools,  and  Saturday 
evening  a  teachers'  meeting  of  thirty  young  men  and  women. 

This  year,  1872,  is  said  to  be  the  year  for  the  final  crisis  or 
cataclysm  of  the  Druse  religion.  Their  prophet.  El  Hakem,  who 
claimed  to  be  an  incarnation  of  the  deity,  and  is  worshipped  by 
them,  promised  when  he  died,  102 1  a.  d.,  to  return  again  with  an 
immense  army  from  China,  overthrow  Islam,  and  subject  the 
earth  to  his  sway.  This  year,  according  to  certain  Druse  author- 
ities, is  the  year  for  the  return  of  El  Hakem,  but  the  educated  and 
thinking  men  among  them  have  the  sense  to  know,  firstly,  that 
there  are  no  Druses  in  China,  and  secondly,  that  if  there  were, 
there  would  be  no  prospect  of  their  getting  to  Syria  without  such 
a  conquest  as  the  world  has  never  seen.  Despairing  of  this,  some 
of  them,  though  not  many  as  yet,  are  asking  what  is  to  be  done. 
If  El  Hakem  does  not  appear  in  1872  the  Druse  religion  is  false, 
and  we  must  cast  about  for  another.  One  of  their  leading  men 
said  a  few  days  ago,  "  If  the  crisis  comes  some  of  us  will  turn 
Moslems  and  some  Protestants.  God  only  knows  ;  God  knows 
all  things." 

We  have  had  one  extraordinary  Protestant  on  the  docket  in 
Beirut  but  now  he  has  returned  Hke  the  sow  that  was  washed, 
etc.  He  was  asked  for  an  extra  donation  in  the  Maronite 
church  and  was  so  enraged  that  he  turned  Protestant.  He  re- 
mained Protestant  two  months,  and  had  several  prayer-meetings 
at  his  house.  He  acknowledged  to  me  that  he  had  committed 
not  less  than  twenty  murders.  He  sleeps  with  several  loaded 
pistols  under  his  pillow,  and  one  day  threatened  to  kill  his  wife. 
He  presented  the  loaded  double-barrelled  pistol  to  his  own  breast 
in  the  presence  of  two  of  the  brethren,  exclaiming,  "  Bear  me 
witness,  that  I  die  a  Protestant  and  give  three-fourths  of  my 
money  to  the  Protestant  Church  and  one-fourth  to  my  wife." 
They  snatched  the  pistol  and  brought  it  to  me ;  I  declined  to 


414  Notable  Visitors  and  Converts 

harbour  it.  He  afterwards  calmed  down  and  came  with  his  wife 
to  call  on  me.  We  laboured  with  him  faithfully,  but  when  he 
heard  that  we  had  collections  in  the  Protestant  Church,  he  went 
back  to  the  Jesuits.  It  is  one  of  the  marvels  of  this  Eastern  land 
that  so  many  men  of  that  kind  go  unhung.  This  hopeful  char- 
acter murdered  his  first  wife  and  may  at  any  day  despatch  his 
present  one.  It  was  a  relief  to  us  all  when  he  ceased  entangling 
the  Protestant  community  with  his  iniquities.  Crimes  and  sin 
have  hardened  his  nature  and  though  he  has  amassed  great  wealth 
by  his  crimes  as  a  highwayman  and  villain,  he  will  not  loose  his 
grip  on  a  cent  without  a  struggle. 

How  different  this  man  from  Abu  Selim,  the  blind  Damascene, 
who  has  lately  united  with  the  church,  a  man  once  steeped  in 
iniquity,  but  now  a  gentle  and  loving  disciple  of  Jesus.  Kind, 
affectionate,  prayerful,  zealous,  going  about  the  streets  led  by  a 
little  boy,  preaching  the  Gospel  early  and  late,  bringing  strangers 
to  the  church  and  the  prayer-meeting,  and  thinking  only  of  one 
great  theme,  salvation  through  Christ,  who  sought  him  when  a 
stranger,  and  sent  blindness  of  natural  vision  five  years  ago,  in 
order  that  his  spiritual  eyes  may  be  opened  !  He  said  the  other 
night  at  a  prayer-meeting,  "  Would  that  He  had  sent  this  blind- 
ness twenty  years  ago  before  I  had  spent  so  much  of  my  life  in 
sin.     Praise  to  His  name  for  not  leaving  me  now." 

On  April  5th,  Antioch  was  destroyed  by  earthquake.  The 
shock  continued  for  several  days.  Sixteen  hundred  were  killed, 
1 ,000  wounded.  The  Turkish  governor,  Ahmed  Beg,  was  a  marvel 
of  efficiency  and  humanity.  More  than  15,000  people  were  with- 
out food  or  shelter.  Help  poured  in  from  Alexandretta,  Aleppo, 
Beirut,  Damascus,  and  Constantinople.  Theraia  Pasha,  Waly  of 
Aleppo,  sent  lOO  tents  and  soldiers  to  guard  the  city  and  prevent 
plunder.  The  stench  from  bodies  buried  under  the  ruins  became 
intolerable.  A  series  of  shocks  continued  for  ten  days. 
Suadiyeh  on  the  coast,  Bitias,  and  scores  of  villages  were  in  ruins 
and  hundreds  perished.  The  house  of  Mr.  Powers,  the  American 
missionary,  was  not  injured,  though  surrounded  by  ruins.  He 
raised  ;^8oo  in  Alexandretta  to  aid  the  sufferers.     Caravans  with 


The  Earthquake  at  Antioch  41^ 

provisions,  bread,  flour,  rice,  and  butter  came  daily  from  Aleppo, 
and  were  distributed  by  the  Aleppo  committee.  Sheikh  Beha  ed 
Din  Effendi  Rufaiee,  Mustafa  Agha,  Siyas  Effendi,  Rizkullah 
Effendi  Bulleet.  The  commercial  council  of  Aleppo  sent  ;$3,200 
in  cash.  Edward  Van  Dyck,  United  States  vice-consul  in  Beirut, 
Rev,  O.  J.  Hardin,  Dr.  Galen  Danforth  and  wife  of  the  American 
Mission  in  Tripoli  and  two  graduates  of  the  medical  college, 
went  on  to  Antioch,  April  27th,  with  medicines  and  blankets  to 
aid  in  the  care  of  the  sick  and  wounded.  The  desolation  and 
suffering  were  heartrending.  The  entire  population  were  liv- 
ing in  the  open  country,  and  daily  shocks  for  three  weeks  added 
to  their  terror  and  distress.  No  such  earthquake  had  occurred 
since  the  days  of  Justinian  in  526  A.  D.,when  the  ancient  Antioch 
was  destroyed  and  according  to  Gibbon  250,000  perished  and  the 
city  thereafter  was  only  an  abject  village. 

On  April  12th  the  Greek  priest  Jebra  was  searching  amid  the 
ruins  of  the  Greek  Church  for  the  silver  ornaments  and  furniture 
buried  under  the  debris  when  he  heard  a  faint  groan.  He  at 
once  informed  the  government,  and  the  Greek  bishop  and  the  en- 
tire body  of  government  officials  repaired  to  the  spot  with 
labourers  who  dug  away  the  debris.  The  groans  gradually  grew 
louder  and  louder  until  they  found  two  persons,  the  one  clasping 
the  other  in  her  arms.  They  were  a  girl  of  twenty  and  her 
younger  brother.  As  they  drew  them  out  after  digging  three 
hours  they  found  them  still  alive.  They  had  been  entombed 
seven  days.  They  begged  for  water.  Dr.  Franki  gave  them 
wine  and  water  in  very  small  quantities.  They  had  no  sign  of 
wound  or  bruise  on  their  bodies  but  the  girl  did  not  survive  long. 
The  boy,  aged  twelve,  revived  and  recovered. 

Sabbath  evening,  April  7th,  I  retired  about  midnight,  ex- 
hausted by  the  labours  of  the  day,  and  was  just  losing  myself  in 
sleep  when  the  door-bell  rang,  and  the  telegraph  messenger 
brought  me  a  telegram  from  Miss  Wilson,  the  English  teacher  in 
Zahleh,  stating  that  Moosa  Ata  was  dying,  and  my  presence  was 
absolutely  necessary.  No  reasons  were  given  and  I  was  seriously 
perplexed.     The  Damascus  diligence  would  leave  at  4  a.  m.,  and 


41 6  Notable  Visitors  and  Converts 

this  was  the  only  v/ay  of  getting  there  unless  I  rode  ten  hours 
on  horseback,  which  I  was  quite  too  weary  to  attempt.  There 
was  no  time  to  consult  the  brethren,  and  such  was  the  pressure 
of  duties  on  hand  in  Beirut  that  it  seemed  impossible  for  me  to 
leave.  At  last  I  decided  to  leave  the  question  to  the  divine 
Providence.  If  there  proved  to  be  an  empty  seat  in  the  dili- 
gence I  would  go  ;  otherwise  not.  I  went  down  to  the  office  at 
half-past  three  and  found  a  seat.  On  reaching  the  house  of  Miss 
Wilson  in  Zahleh  at  noon,  I  found  the  town  in  a  state  of  great 
excitement.  Moosa  had  died  one  hour  before  my  arrival.  He 
was  the  first  Protestant  in  Zahleh  and  had  been  a  steadfast 
evangelical  for  fifteen  years.  The  town  numbers  1 2,000  souls,  all 
Greek  or  Greek  Catholic,  and  the  people  have  been  noted  in  years 
past  for  their  insubordination  to  the  government  and  their  blind 
devotion  to  the  priests.  Years  ago  they  boasted  that  the  Prot- 
estants should  never  enter  Zahleh,  and  twice  have  they  driven 
out  missionaries  by  violence.  The  town  was  sacked  and  burned 
by  the  Druses  in  i860,  and  the  great  church  of  Mary,  the  citadel 
of  Mariolatry  in  Lebanon,  was  destroyed.  It  is  now  rebuilt,  the 
houses  being  constructed  of  stone  and  sun-dried  brick.  It  stands 
in  a  narrow  valley  which  runs  down  the  eastern  slope  of  Lebanon 
to  the  plain,  and  is  built  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  the  north  and 
south  quarters  of  the  city  rising  abruptly  from  the  river  and  fa- 
cing each  other,  the  roof  of  one  house  often  forming  the  court  or 
floor  of  the  house  above.  The  power  of  the  Jesuits  and  the 
native  Catholic  and  Greek  clergy  was  once  supreme  and  is  now 
enough  to  incite  the  masses  to  almost  any  act  of  rowdyism,  un- 
less restrained  by  force  or  fear.  A  month  since,  the  young 
heroes  of  the  town,  of  various  aristocratic  families,  attacked  the 
governor  and  threatened  to  kill  him.  He  barely  escaped  with 
his  life  and  an  army  was  despatched  for  his  protection.  Numer- 
ous arrests  were  made  and  six  of  the  finest  young  men  of  the 
town  were  sent  for  six  years  to  the  penitentiary  in  Acre.  This 
condign  punishment  has  somewhat  tamed  down  the  fire  of  the 
masses  or  we  might  have  had  serious  trouble  in  burying  our 
deceased  brother,  Moosa  Ata.     Ever  since  he  had  become  a 


Moosa  Ata  417 

Protestant  the  priests  had  vowed  vengeance  upon  him,  and  al- 
though a  venerable  man,  respected  by  all,  and  admired  for  his 
skill  (he  was  a  gunsmith,  and  received  a  reward  from  the  Lon- 
don^Exposition  for  a  curiously  wrought  and  inlaid  weapon),  they 
resolved  that  when  he  died,  he  should  be  dragged  through  the 
streets  and  be  denied  decent  burial. 

On  Sunday,  April  7th,  he  was  very  ill.  The  Protestant  native 
helper,  Giurgius,  went  to  see  him  and  was  refused  admittance. 
The  Greek  Catholic  priests  had  gone  a  dozen  strong  to  his  house, 
fastened  the  doors,  and  sent  out  word  that  Moosa  had  recanted 
and  returned  to  the  papal  church.  His  son  Abdallah,  who  is  a 
Protestant  and  a  lovely  young  man,  told  the  brethren  that  this 
was  not  true.  Still  none  of  the  brethren  could  get  access  to  him. 
At  length  Miss  Wilson  sent  word  to  Jebran  Meshaka,  city  judge, 
and,  since  the  riot,  acting  governor,  asking  leave  to  visit  Moosa, 
the  Protestant.  He  at  once  sent  the  chief  of  police  and  two  of 
his  men  to  accompany  her.  Giurgius,  the  preacher,  and  several 
of  the  brethren  went  with  her.  The  roof  of  Moosa's  house  and 
all  the  adjoining  houses  were  covered  with  thousands  of  women 
and  children  and  the  roughs  of  the  town  hooting  and  cursing  and 
railing  at  the  Protestants.  The  chief  made  his  way  through  the 
mob,  and  took  the  party  with  him  into  the  room  of  the  dying 
man.  The  room  was  crowded  with  the  black-robed  and  hooded 
priests.  Said  the  chief,  Butrus  Agha,  to  Giurgius,  the  Protestant 
preacher,  "  You  may  now  question  Moosa  as  to  his  faith." 
Giurgius  sat  down  by  his  side  and  said  distinctly,  "  My  brother, 
are  you  still  in  the  faith  of  the  Gospel,  or  have  you  returned  to 
the  papal  church  ?  "  He  replied  in  a  clear  voice,  "  I  am  a  Prot- 
estant and  die  a  Protestant."  At  the  request  of  the  agha,  the 
question  was  repeated,  with  the  same  reply.  Then  the  agha 
ordered  the  priests  to  leave  at  once.  "  What  business  have  you 
here  by  the  death-bed  of  a  Protestant  ?  Leave  him  without  de- 
lay." Moosa  then  asked  Giurgius  to  read  and  pray  with  him. 
When  Miss  Wilson  left,  the  mob  began  to  shout  and  threaten  the 
life  of  Giurgius.  "  Bring  out  the  dog  and  we  will  kill  him  !  Break 
down  the  door  and  let  us  shoot  him  !  "  etc.,  etc.     Giurgius  went  to 


4i8  Notable  Visitors  and  Converts 

the  door  and  told  them,  •'  I  am  ready  to  die,  but  I  will  not  leave 
my  brother  while  the  breath  of  life  is  in  him.  If  you  kill  me  I 
will  die  between  his  feet."  The  agha  then  drove  back  the  crowd 
but  they  soon  returned  instigated  by  the  priests.  The  agha 
stayed  with  Giurgius  all  that  night  and  the  next  day  until  1 1  a.  m., 
when  Moosa  died.  For  three  years  the  papists  had  been  threat- 
ening that  when  Moosa  died  he  should  not  be  buried.  As  no 
Protestant  death  had  ever  occurred  in  Zahleh  they  gave  out  word 
that  Protestants  have  no  funeral  service,  no  clergy,  no  honour  for 
the  dead,  and  that  no  Protestant  dog  should  ever  be  buried  in  the 
sacred  (?)  soil  of  Zahleh.  When  he  died  they  would  drag  him 
through  the  streets  and  throw  his  corpse  into  the  river.  The 
gathering  of  these  thousands  on  the  housetops  meant  mischief. 
As  soon  as  Moosa's  death  was  known,  his  wife  and  sons,  and 
Abdallah's  wife,  arose  and  left  the  house,  declaring  that  as  none 
but  street  dogs  would  follow  a  Protestant  to  his  grave  they  would 
not  attend  the  funeral.  The  brethren  had  telegraphed  to  me  but 
my  coming  was  uncertain,  and  they  sent  for  Mr.  Rattrey,  a 
Scotch  gentleman  living  a  few  miles  away,  to  come  and  aid  them. 
When  my  arrival  was  known,  a  great  change  came  over  matters, 
and  although  I  was  almost  faint  from  exhaustion,  loss  of  sleep 
and  riding  in  a  burning  sirocco,  I  forgot  my  weariness  in  the  joy 
of  the  brethren  at  my  coming.  At  half-past  two  I  went  over  to 
the  house  with  Miss  Wilson  and  instead  of  finding  none  but 
street  dogs,  we  found  the  entire  body  of  Zahleh  aristocracy  as- 
sembled to  condole  with  Abdallah  and  to  attend  the  funeral.  All 
the  parties  in  the  late  riot  who  had  taken  up  arms  against  one 
another  were  sitting  side  by  side.  Outside  the  building  the  scene 
beggared  description.  Thousands  were  surging  against  the  house 
or  on  the  adjacent  roofs  screaming,  cursing,  and  calling  us  dogs 
and  wild  beasts.  One  woman  cried  out,  "  If  they  bury  that  dog 
in  the  sacred  soil  of  Zahleh  the  earth  will  vomit  him  forth."  An- 
other said,  "  They  cut  up  their  dead  and  burn  them,"  "  Let  me 
see."  "  See  the  heretics."  "  God  curse  them  and  their  preachers 
and  their  books,"  and  volleys  of  similar  vituperation  and  insult, 
to  all  of  which  we  paid  no  attention  whatever.     Butrus  Agha,  the 


The  Funeral  in  Zahleh 


419 


chief  of  police,  charged  upon  them  repeatedly,  but  the  crowd 
rolled  back  again  like  the  waves  of  the  sea.  The  clamour  outside 
and  the  roaring  of  the  sirocco  wind  made  it  most  difficult  to 
speak,  but  I  conducted  a  short  service  standing  in  the  door  be- 
tween the  crowd  inside  and  the  mob  outside.  When  it  was 
ended,  the  body  was  placed  in  a  coffin,  wrapped  in  a  white  cloth, 
as  there  was  not  a  woman  in  the  family  who  would  make  a 
shroud,  and  the  crowds  of  young  men,  seeing  the  chief  dignitaries 
of  the  town  in  attendance,  vied  with  one  another  in  carrying  the 
body  to  the  chapel  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  town.  The  pro- 
cession was  immense.  Five  of  the  Protestant  young  men  walked 
in  advance  singing  in  Arabic,  "  My  Faith  Looks  up  to  Thee," 
and  "  How  Sweet  the  Name  of  Jesus  Sounds,"  and  their  loud, 
clear  voices  had  a  palpably  soothing  effect  upon  the  tumultuous 
throng.  On  reaching  the  chapel  (Miss  Wilson's  large  school- 
room) the  crowd  was  excessive  so  that  they  literally  trod  upon 
one  another.  The  doors  and  windows  and  the  fields  outside  were 
jammed  with  the  curious  multitude,  anxious  to  see  what  we  were 
going  to  do.  I  was  getting  hoarse  from  sheer  exhaustion,  but 
when  the  agha  had  literally  cudgelled  the  crowd  into  silence  at 
the  request  of  some  of  the  leading  men,  though  against  our 
solemn  protest,  it  became  quiet  enough  to  speak,  and  I  conducted 
a  funeral  service.  The  service  was  brief  I  had  to  speak  with 
the  voice  of  a  sea-captain  giving  orders  in  a  hurricane,  yet  the 
people  gave  good  attention  and  some  seemed  to  be  effected  by 
the  truth.  The  singing  was  good  and  on  leaving  the  chapel  for 
the  cemetery,  the  young  men  again  sang  as  we  passed  through 
the  streets,  and  the  interment  took  place  decently  and  in  order. 
I  walked  by  the  side  of  Abdallah  as  he  followed  his  father  to  his 
grave,  and  he  was  sad  to  think  that  not  one  of  his  family  was 
present.  I  told  him  that  it  was  just  so  with  Christ  in  His  hour 
of  extremity.  All  His  disciples  forsook  Him  and  fled,  and  He 
could  sympathize  with  His  bereaved  and  lonely  children  now. 

In  the  evening  the  brethren  all  called  and  said  that  though 
they  were  all  sad  at  the  death  of  Moosa,  their  patriarch  and  chief, 
yet  the  providence  of  God  had  made  this  day  the  gladdest  and 


420  Notable  Visitors  and  Converts 

most  auspicious  in  the  history  of  the  Gospel  in  Zahleh.  Op- 
posers  had  been  silenced  and  the  enemies  had  heard  the  truth, 
the  priests  had  been  foiled  in  their  lying  plots,  God's  truth  had 
been  openly  honoured,  and  Protestantism  had  been  recognized 
by  the  government.  Early  in  the  day  they  had  telegraphed  to 
Franco  Pasha,  the  governor  of  Lebanon,  for  authority  to  select 
a  cemetery  from  the  Government  lands  in  the  suburbs.  For 
years  they  had  tried  to  get  this  concession  but  priests  and  bishops 
had  prevented.  While  we  were  assembled  in  the  evening,  a  tele- 
gram came  from  the  pasha  ordering  the  judge  to  set  apart  a 
cemetery  for  the  Protestants  at  once  and  without  delay.  So  the 
next  morning  we  called  at  the  Mejlis  with  Miss  Wilson  and  sev- 
eral of  the  brethren.  The  judge  sent  a  high  official  with  us  and 
we  selected  an  appropriate  place  near  the  cemetery  of  the  other 
sects,  and  before  one  o'clock  the  deed  was  made  out,  signed, 
sealed,  recorded  and  given  to  the  Protestant  brethren.  I  made 
various  calls  on  the  people  and  was  everywhere  courteously  re- 
ceived, and  in  the  house  of  one  of  the  leading  families  a  young 
woman  whose  husband  is  in  the  penitentiary  asked  me  to  read 
the  Scriptures  and  offer  prayer,  in  which  request  the  whole  com- 
pany joined. 

The  effect  of  my  visit  to  Zahleh  in  my  mind  was  this :  that  it 
is  a  most  important  centre  and  should  be  occupied  as  our  mission 
previously  voted  and  that  as  speedily  as  possible.  It  is  sur- 
rounded by  important  villages,  is  easy  of  access,  a  good  climate, 
and  could  be  manned  by  two  families  to-morrow  were  they  on  the 
ground. 

On  Wednesday  evening,  April  8th,  Mr,  Calhoun  and  brother 
Samuel  Jessup  arrived  from  Tripoli  after  a  tedious  ride  of  nine- 
teen hours  on  horseback,  and  on  Friday,  April  loth,  at  sunrise, 
Samuel  and  I  embarked  on  the  Austrian  Lloyd  steamer  for  Jaffa 
en  route  for  Jerusalem.  It  was  a  trip  for  mental  rest  and  recrea- 
tion on  the  part  of  both  of  us  for  the  sake  of  seeing  the  land  in 
which  we  live  and  the  Christian  labourers  in  Palestine,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  sacred  associations  of  the  Holy  Land.  I  had  not 
been  to  Jerusalem  in  fifteen  years,  and  he  had  never  been  either 


Going  to  Jerusalem  421 

to  Jerusalem  or  Damascus  and  it  seemed  high  time  for  him  to 
go.  The  Austrian  steamer  was  crowded  with  Russian  and  Ar- 
menian pilgrims  going  to  Jerusalem.  These  Russian  pilgrims 
are  the  most  abject  and  filthy  creatures  to  be  seen  in  the  East. 
They  must  be  chiefly  of  the  lowest  of  the  serfs.  They  are 
herded  together  like  cattle  and  seem  lost  to  all  sense  of  decency. 
They  lay  up  money  for  many  years  to  make  the  pilgrimage  to 
Jerusalem,  Bethlehem,  Bethany,  and  the  Jordan,  and  go  back 
fleeced  and  plundered  by  the  priests  and  monks  to  spend  the 
rest  of  their  lives  in  poverty.  They  carry  back  the  clothes  in 
which  they  bathe  in  the  Jordan  and  keep  them  to  be  buried  in. 
How  long  they  will  keep  with  so  much  filth  matted  on  them  I 
cannot  surmise.  Their  ignorance  and  infatuated  superstitious 
devotion  to  saints'  pictures,  and  holy  places,  make  one  ashamed 
of  Christianity.  No  wonder  the  Mohammedans  scoff"  and  ridicule 
Christianity  when  thus  identified  with  the  grossest  idolatry,  I 
saw  two  Moslem  sheikhs  from  Shechem  (Nablus)  standing  at  a 
Christian  shop  in  Jerusalem  with  a  view  to  purchasing  cotton 
cloth,  when  the  eye  of  one  of  them  fell  upon  a  piece  of  carved 
and  painted  wood  designed  to  represent  the  Virgin.  "  Do  you 
see  this  ?  "  said  he  to  his  companion.  "  These  are  the  gods  of 
the  Christians,"  and  he  turned  away.  I  stopped  him  and  said, 
"  My  friend,  these  are  not  the  gods  of  true  Christians.  Such 
things  are  contrary  to  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  and  against 
the  law  of  God  and  His  Son  Jesus  Christ.  They  are  the  gods  of 
mere  nominal  Christians  who  have  forsaken  God's  Word  and  fol- 
lowed the  traditions  of  men.  True  Christianity  is  a  spiritual  re- 
ligion and  forbids  all  worship  of  the  creature."  The  shopkeeper 
blushed,  and  the  Moslems  said  "  that  kind  of  Christianity  would 
suit  us  Moslems,  but  this  idolatry  never." 

On  board  our  steamer  were  three  Russian  gentlemen  of  the 
higher  class,  tall,  slender,  gray-bearded  men,  with  long  black 
coats  and  flat  black  caps,  and  they  paced  the  deck  side  by  side 
with  faces  of  the  most  awful  solemnity,  as  if  the  responsibility  of 
some  momentous  task  was  weighing  them  down.  I  soon  learned 
that  they  were  bringing  two  ponderous  bells,  one  of  them  weigh- 


422  Notable  Visitors  and  Converts 

ing  6,600  pounds,  as  a  present  from  Russia  to  the  Russian  con- 
vent in  Jerusalem.  The  bells  were  on  the  main  deck  and  the 
problem  as  to  how  they  were  to  land  them  at  Jaffa  and  transport 
them  to  Jerusalem  was  probably  tasking  their  minds  day  and 
night.  I  have  since  learned  that  the  bells  were  landed  and  that 
400  of  those  poor  Russian  women  who  were  at  the  convent  in 
Jerusalem  came  down  to  Jaffa  and  drew  the  bells  up  to  Jerusa- 
lem, thirty-six  miles,  on  trucks,  as  a  work  of  religious  merit,  thus 
adding  to  their  stock  of  good  works  and  increasing  their  chance 
of  getting  to  heaven. 

We  took  breakfast  at  the  hotel  kept  by  our  courteous  vice-consul, 
Mr.  Hardegg,  in  one  of  the  houses  of  the  defunct  Adams  Colony. 
That  colony  has  been  brought  out  principally  by  the  industrious 
and  God-fearing  German  sect  of  Hoffmanites,  who  are  now 
firmly  settled  here  and  in  Haifa  under  Mount  Carmel.  They  are 
steady,  honest  men  who  tolerate  no  drones  in  their  hive,  and 
have  set  about  their  work  in  earnest.  Their  numbers  in  Wur- 
temburg  are  large,  but  they  will  allow  no  new  immigrants  until 
they  have  work  provided  in  advance.  The  great  problem  in  their 
future  will  be  whether  the  Turkish  government  will  protect  them 
or  allow  them  to  be  harassed  and  gradually  worn  out  with  petty 
annoyances  until  they  finally  break  up  in  despair  and  leave.  The 
wooden  houses  in  Jaffa  will  not  last  long  but  they  can  be  replaced 
with  stone  in  due  time. 

It  is  twelve  hours'  ride  from  Jaffa  to  Jerusalem  but  Mr.  Hardegg 
gave  us  animals  that  took  us  up  the  thirty-six  miles  in  six  hours, 
without  great  effort  on  their  part  or  ours.  Fifteen  years  have 
made  great  changes  in  this  ancient  land.  This  road  is  an  in- 
calculable blessing  and  a  Greek  lady  who  broke  her  arm  in  riding 
down  to  the  Jordan  has  expended  ^700  in  making  a  fine,  broad, 
and  easy  road  all  the  way  from  the  gates  of  Jerusalem  to  the 
banks  of  the  Jordan. 

The  Plain  of  Sharon  was  covered  with  waving  grain,  as  if 
literally  groaning  under  an  excess  of  luxuriance. 

Amateur  missionaries  abound  in  Palestine,  some  of  whom  hold 
extraordinary  views.    We  met  a  white-bearded  patriarchal  apostle. 


Seed  Sown  by  the  Wayside  423 

Dr.  Zembal,  when  encamped  at  the  Fountain  of  Elisha  at  Jericho. 
He  sat  in  his  tent  door  at  sunset,  looking  out  on  the  mountains 
of  Moab,  now  tinged  with  purple  and  gold  by  the  rays  of  the 
setting  sun.  He  had  just  returned  from  a  journey,  with  no  com- 
panions but  his  guards  and  muleteers,  to  Ramoth  Gilead,  Rabbath 
Ammon,  and  Heshbon,  where  Sihon,  king  of  the  Amorites,  lived, 
and  had  only  recrossed  the  Jordan  because  his  supply  of  bread 
had  failed.  He  said,  "  Do  you  know  what  I  have  been  there  for? 
I  have  been  to  find  a  place  for  '  the  Woman '  in  the  wilderness. 
The  time  is  at  hand,  rapidly  approaching.  A  fine  tract  of  land 
here  in  Jericho  is  offered  for  sale.  It  must  be  secured.  Na- 
poleon must  soon  become  King  of  Rome,  and  then  the  Jews  will 
begin  to  return  in  thousands.  Everything  must  be  ready."  It 
was  really  affecting  to  witness  the  tearful  and  intense  earnestness 
with  which  the  old  man  expressed  his  views.  He  is  very  aged 
and  fears  lest  he  may  die  before  the  Messiah  actually  appears. 

On  our  way  to  the  Jordan  we  were  escorted  by  Sheikh  Rashid, 
a  stalwart  and  dignified  Arab,  with  whom  I  had  a  two  hours' 
conversation  on  our  return  when  riding  slowly  up  the  long 
ascent.  It  was  pleasant  to  have  an  opportunity  to  preach  the 
Gospel  so  practically  to  one  of  the  sons  of  the  desert.  He  listened 
most  patiently  and  with  apparent  interest  to  a  full  exposition  of 
the  gospel  plan  by  which  God  can  be  just  and  the  justifier  of 
them  that  believe.  The  idea  was  new  to  him  and  I  trust  that  it 
will  not  be  lost  upon  him. 

While  in  Jerusalem  we  were  invited  to  view  Mr.  Shapira's 
unique  and  unparallelled  collection  of  Moabite  pottery,  just 
brought,  as  he  said,  from  Makkedah,  east  of  the  Dead  Sea.  It  is 
covered  with  Phoenician  and  other  antique  characters,  and  was 
claimed  to  be  of  immense  importance  and  value.  A  small 
selection  of  the  vases,  tesseras,  and  earthern  gods,  was  offered  for 
;^ioo.  German  savants  examined  the  collection  and  it  was  pur- 
chased for  the  Berlin  Museum  for  a  fabulous  sum.  But  soon 
after,  M.  Ganneau,  a  French  savant,  let  the  whole  Moabite  cat  out 
of  the  bag  and  proved  that  Shapira  had  manufactured  the  whole 
collection  at  a  pottery  of  his  own  in  a  secluded  place  and  hirec} 


(  * 


424  Notable  Visitors  and  Converts 

trans-Jordanic  Bedawin  to  bring  them  in  on  camels,  as  if  just  dis- 
covered at  Makkedah,  The  exposure  subjected  Shapira  to  such 
indignity  and  contempt  that  it  was  reported  that  he  had  com- 
mitted suicide. 

During  this  visit  we  met  the  genial  and  godly  Bishop  Gobat 
and  had  full  conference  with  him  about  the  basis  of  missionary 
comity  established  between  our  missions.  We  were  told  that 
the  recent  Episcopal  invasion  of  Aintab  was  in  spite  of  his 
protest. 

We  received  on  Sabbath,  May  19,  1872,  to  the  communion  of 
the  Beirut  church  nine  persons.  One  is  a  Damascene,  a  Jew  of 
a  wealthy  family,  who  have  now  disowned  and  disinherited  him. 
He  gives  good  evidence  of  being  a  true  disciple  of  Christ.  In 
1906  three  of  his  children  were  received  into  the  same  church. 
The  Jews  in  Syria  are  in  a  sad  condition.  There  is  not  a  more 
superstitious  or  fanatical  class  in  the  community  and  they  are 
hated  intensely  by  all  the  sects,  but  more  especially  by  the 
Greeks  and  Latins,  In  the  gradations  of  Oriental  cursing,  it  is 
tolerably  reasonable  to  call  a  man  a  donkey,  somewhat  severe  to 
call  him  a  dog,  contemptuous  to  call  him  a  swine,  but  withering 
to  the  last  degree  to  call  him  a  Jew.  The  animosity  of  the 
nominal  Christian  sects  against  the  Jews  is  most  relentless  and 
unreasoning.  They  believe  that  the  Jews  kill  Christian  children 
every  year  at  the  Passover  and  mingle  their  blood  with  the  Pass- 
over bread.  Almost  every  year  in  the  spring,  this  senseless 
charge  is  brought  against  the  Jews ;  senseless  because  blood  is 
unclean  among  the  Jews,  but  an  impossibility  is  no  obstacle  to 
Oriental  fanaticism. 

The  Jews  of  Beirut  and  Damascus  are  obliged  to  pay  heavy 
blackmail  every  year  to  the  Greek  and  Latin  "  lewd  fellows  of  the 
baser  sort "  who  threaten  to  raise  a  mob  against  them  for  killing 
Christian  children.  Quite  a  number  of  Jewish  children  are 
gathered  in  the  missionary  schools  of  the  Scotch  and  English 
missions  in  Beirut,  but  the  chief  rabbi  of  Damascus  ordered 
them  all  removed  on  hearing  of  the  recent  bloody  assault  of  the 


Mohammed's  Long  Lost  Shoe  42j; 

Smyrna  Greeks  on  the  Jews  of  that  city.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
practical  comments  on  the  degraded  character  of  these  Oriental 
so-called  Christian  churches,  that  they  never  lift  a  finger  for  the 
instruction  or  conversion  of  Jews,  Moslems,  or  Druses,  but  hate 
them  with  a  perfect  hatred  and  not  only  in  theory  regard  them 
as  children  of  hell,  but  would  rejoice  to  send  them  there  if  they 
could. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  items  of  news  in  this  part  of  the 
world  just  now  is  the  recent  discovery  in  Diarbekir  of  one  of  the 
shoes  of  the  Prophet  Mohammed  !  It  is  generally  supposed  that 
Mohammedans  are  above  the  superstitious  relic  worship  of  the 
Greeks  and  Latins  but  those  who  live  among  them  know  very 
well  that  they  sanction  some  of  the  most  foolish,  superstitious 
practices  and  revere  sacred  places  and  footprints  and  tombs  with 
what  is  akin  to  idolatrous  homage.  To  give  you  a  correct  idea 
of  the  wonderful  relic  just  discovered  I  will  translate  from  the 
Turkish  government  official  organ  published  in  Damascus  and 
called  La  Syrie  or  Sunyeh. 

"  The  long-lost  sister  of  the  noble  prophetic  shoe,  which  has 
long  been  preserved  with  distinguished  honour  in  the  treasury  of 
the  imperial  wardrobe  in  the  new  sultanic  palace  in  Constanti- 
nople, has  now  been  found  in  the  possession  of  Derwish  Beg,  a 
descendant  of  the  family  of  the  Abbassides,  living  in  the 
province  of  Hakari  east  of  the  Tigris,  and  under  the  government 
of  Diarbekir.  The  beg  has  brought  it  to  Diarbekir  with  the 
most  ancient  testimonies,  which  prove  beyond  a  question  that  it 
is  the  mate  of  the  famous  shoe  of  the  prophet,  and  in  view  of 
these  facts  the  entire  population  of  Diarbekir  great  and  small 
went  out  a  distance  of  several  hours  to  meet  it,  and  it  was 
brought  in  and  placed  in  a  special  room  prepared  for  it  in  the 
house  of  the  mufti  of  the  city,  and  the  curious  and  eager  multi- 
tude thronged  the  house  in  crowds  to  visit  it. 

"  Now  it  is  clear  that  the  noble  and  holy  relic,  wherever  found, 
ought  to  be  most  sacredly  preserved  and  guarded,  and  his  Im- 
perial Highness  the  Sultan,  caliph  of  the  two  worlds  and  imam 
of  all  Mussulmen,  being  entrusted  with  the  protection  of  the  two 


426  Notable  Visitors  and  Converts 

Harams  (at  Mecca  and  Jerusalem)  most  honoured  and  noble  and 
delegated  for  the  preservation  of  all  the  exalted  prophetic  relics, 
will  doubtless  preserve  this  relic  also  in  the  holy  treasury  above 
mentioned.  The  effendi  above  mentioned  has  left  Diarbekir  for 
Constantinople,  after  allowing  the  entire  population  to  visit  it. 
The  celebration  and  pious  rites  performed  by  the  Mussulman 
population  of  Diarbekir  in  high  honour  of  this  sacred  relic  are 
sufficiently  described  in  the  Diarbekir  official  journal  in  an  extra 
edition,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  lords  of  Moslem 
orthodoxy  will  feel  under  great  obligations  for  its  perusal  and 
show  to  the  editor  some  substantial  proof  of  their  appreciation. 

"  There  can  be  no  question  that  this  most  precious  and  holy 
relic  is  one  of  immense  value  and  importance,  the  flood  of  whose 
benefits,  material  and  moral,  will  overflow  the  whole  Moham- 
medan world.  There  is  therefore  the  most  assured  hope  that  it 
will  be  borne  into  the  Court  of  Happiness  (Constantinople)  on  a 
special  steamer,  with  the  most  exalted  honour  and  ceremony  and 
may  God  grant  (may  He  be  exalted)  that  we  may  yet  receive  the 
particulars  of  its  grand  entrance  into  the  Sublime  Porte.    .    .     ." 

The  girls*  school  in  Hamath  is  proving  a  great  success.  It  is 
one  of  the  darkest  cities  in  Syria  and  one  of  the  most  beautiful. 
For  years  the  brethren  of  the  Tripoli  station  have  had  a  native 
preacher,  Nasif  Sellum,  working  away  in  Hamath  knocking  at 
the  Ear  Gate  and  looking  in  at  the  Eye  Gate  of  that  Man  Soul, 
but  none  replied.  During  our  recent  visit  on  June  5th,  we  met  a 
young  woman,  Raheel  Weider,  who  had  been  for  eight  years  a 
pupil  in  the  orphan  house  of  the  excellent  Prussian  deaconesses 
in  Beirut.  She  had  married  and  removed  to  Hamath,  and  the 
native  preacher  found  her  out.  I  called  on  her  with  him  and 
asked  her  what  she  was  doing  for  the  good  of  the  people  of 
Hamath.  "  What  can  I  do,  a  lone  woman  in  such  a  dark  place  ? 
My  husband  is  poor  and  I  have  no  means  of  doing  good." 
"  Would  you  be  willing  to  gather  a  few  girls  around  you  from 
among  your  neighbours  and  give  them  instruction  every  day  ? 
We  will  furnish  you  a  room  and  pay  you  for  your  time."  "  I 
will  be  delighted  to  do  it  and  will  do  my  best."    ♦*  Very  well. 


Raheel  Welder's  Work  in  Hamath  427 

Do  you  begin  next  week  ?  If  you  have  less  than  ten  girls  you 
shall  have  two  dollars  a  month,  and  if  more  than  ten,  four  dol- 
lars." After  giving  her  earnest  advice  as  to  how  to  carry  on  the 
work,  and  the  need  of  looking  to  God  for  aid,  we  bade  her  good- 
bye. 

She  commenced.  The  Greek  bishop  and  his  priests,  with  the 
bishop's  Mejlis  or  council  came  together  in  great  indignation. 
A  deputation  waited  on  both  her  and  her  husband  Daud,  and  en- 
treated her  to  desist,  or  the  rather,  to  teach  a  school  for  them,  but 
on  this  condition  that  no  Protestant  child  should  be  allowed  in 
the  school,  and  they  would  pay  her  a  good  salary.  "  Never," 
said  she,  •'  will  I  consent  to  such  a  plan.  I  shall  invite  Moslems, 
and  Jews,  Jacobites,  Greeks,  and  Catholics  to  my  school,  and 
shall  I  reject  Protestant  children,  when  for  eight  years  I  have 
been  taught  and  trained  by  Protestants  ?  " 

They  then  threatened  excommunication  against  all  who  would 
send  their  children  to  her,  and  in  the  Greek  Church  the  great 
curse  was  fulminated  against  all  such  erring  and  foolish  ones  as 
should  send  children  to  the  heretics.  Raheel  held  on  her  way. 
Nasif  Sellum  encouraged  her  and  soon  they  had  twenty  girls  of  all 
sects.  The  bishop  was  in  a  rage.  He  is  a  foreign  Ionian  Greek 
and  hates  Protestants  in  the  most  senseless  and  fearful  manner.  A 
Prussian  prince  visited  Palmyra  and  Hamath  last  spring  and  on 
reaching  Hamath,  sent  to  the  Greek  bishop  and  asked  his  hospi- 
tality. The  brutal  ecclesiastic,  on  hearing  that  he  was  a  Protes- 
tant, refused  to  entertain  him,  and  the  prince  went  to  the  little 
upper  room  of  the  Protestant  preacher  Nasif,  and  spent  the  night. 
The  bishop  raged  against  the  new  girls'  school  with  such  violence 
that  the  Greek  community  became  divided  in  two  parties,  one  for 
the  school  and  one  against  it.  The  last  letter  from  Raheel  states 
that  she  has  sixty  pupils. 

At  this  time  the  mission  decided  to  occupy  Zahleh,  In  No- 
vember, 1872,  Rev.  Gerald  F.  Dale  was  stationed  in  Zahleh.  The 
Zahleh  church  was  organized  June,  1873,  and  Rev.  F.  W.  March 
joined  Mr.  Dale  November  19,  1873.  On  November  19,  1876, 
the  Zahleh  church  edifice  was  dedicated. 


428  Notable  Visitors  and  Converts 

I  have  often  thought  of  the  monthly  concert  as  the  great  link 
between  the  Christian  Church  and  a  perishing  world.  One  hour 
a  month  is  certainly  little  enough  to  devote  to  prayer  and  infor- 
mation about  the  hundreds  of  foreign  missionaries,  in  various  em- 
pires and  nations,  engaged  in  preaching,  teaching,  writing,  and 
translating  books,  editing  journals,  visiting  the  people,  travelling 
by  land  and  sea,  training  a  native  ministry,  overseeing  the  native 
churches,  planning  new  modes  of  reaching  blinded  and  hostile 
populations,  conducting  Sunday-schools,  Bible  classes,  and  hav- 
ing under  their  influence  more  or  less  directly,  thousands  of  chil- 
dren and  youth,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  heathen,  Moham- 
medans and  nominal  Christians  ;  with  seminaries,  schools,  colleges, 
hospitals,  printing-presses,  and  type  foundries,  to  say  nothing  of 
that  most  responsible  and  difficult  of  all  works,  the  translation  of 
the  Word  of  God  into  the  language  of  millions  of  our  race.  On 
the  foreign  field  are  combined  all  the  Boards  of  our  Church : 
Home  Mission,  Foreign  Mission,  Publication,  Sustentation, 
Church  Erection,  Church  Extension,  Education,  Primary,  Colle- 
giate, and  Theological.  There  are  hundreds  of  native  churches, 
whose  members,  pastors,  and  teachers,  need  the  sympathy  and 
prayers  of  the  whole  Church.  Your  missionaries  are  a  mere 
handful  thrown  out  into  the  frontier  line  of  the  Lord's  host 
among  organized  and  mighty  foes.  The  great  source,  the  only 
source  of  their  strength  and  success,  is  in  the  sustaining  hand  of 
the  Lord  Himself  in  answer  to  the  prayers  of  the  Lord's  people. 
The  thoughts  and  hearts  and  sympathies  of  the  churches  at  home 
are  naturally  and  inevitably  taken  up  through  the  month  with 
interests  that  are  near  and  visible  and  pressing.  The  home  work 
in  all  its  branches  must  and  ever  will  be  linked  to  the  very  heart 
and  life  of  the  Church,  and  all  through  the  month,  it  must  and 
will  be  remembered  in  earnest  prayer.  But  let  the  Church  give 
that  one  sacred  hour  in  the  month,  twelve  hours  in  the  year,  to 
the  work  they  are  doing  among  the  kingdoms  of  darkness.  Let 
all  missionaries  and  mission  churches  be  assured  that  this  one 
hour  is  the  hour  of  contact  between  them  and  the  great  heart  of 
the  Church  ;  that  they  and  their  colabourers,  the  churches  and 


X       2 


o     *^ 


m 

p 
o 

ai 
o 


o  5  w 


Is  the  Church  at  Home  Praying?  429 

pastors,  the  schools  and  seminaries,  the  translators  and  physicians, 
the  editors  and  itinerants,  the  colporteurs  and  teachers,  the  per- 
secuted and  the  suffering,  the  inquiring  and  awakened,  as  weh  as 
the  great  perishing  myriads  of  the  ignorant,  superstitious  and 
fanatical,  are  being  thought  of,  prayed  for,  wrestled  for  and  borne 
up  on  the  arms  of  faith  before  the  interceding  Saviour,  the 
faithful  Promiser,  who  is  Head  over  all  things  to  the  Church ! 

The  thought  that  the  Church  at  home  is  praying  is  a  tower  of 
strength  to  the  missionary  in  distant  lands.  Whatever  else  is 
neglected  let  not  the  Church  forget  to  pray ;  and  what  time  more 
fit  and  more  hallowed  than  the  monthly  concert,  when  those  at 
home  and  their  brethren  and  sisters  abroad  bend  around  one  com- 
mon mercy  seat. 


XX 

A  Cholera  Year 

The  Tripoli  school — Close  brethrenism — Government  hostility — Dr. 
EUinwood's  visit — The  Dog  River — Dr.  Danforth's  death — The  scourge 
of  cholera  1873-1875. 

FRIDAY,  January  31,  1873,  Mr.  Calhoun  and  I  went  in  a 
little  Russian  steamer  to  Tripoli  to  hold  communion,  re- 
ceive members  and  negotiate  for  premises  for  the  girls' 
boarding-school.  We  received  Mr.  Yakiib  Surruf  (now  Dr.  Sur- 
ruf),  a  college  graduate  and  for  twenty- five  years  editor  of  the 
Muktutaf  Scientific  Magazine  in  Cairo.  "  Only  one  received  ?  " 
some  would  say.  Yet  that  one  has  become  one  of  the  most  in- 
fluential men  in  Modern  Egypt.  In  that  little  congregation  was 
Nofel  Effendi,  the  well-known  Arabic  author  and  M.  Elias  Saadeh, 
who  was  converted  in  Beirut  in  1886. 

Mr.  Antonius  Yanni,  our  brother  beloved  for  seventeen  years, 
offered  us  his  spacious  house  for  ten  years  for  6,000  piastres  or 
1^240  a  year  with  eight  rooms  above  for  the  girls'  school  and  four 
spacious  stone  vaulted  rooms  below  for  chapel  and  boys'  school. 
It  was  a  cheap  bargain  and  an  admirable  home  for  the  school. 
The  Board  in  New  York  finally  modified  the  lease  to  five  years, 
the  owner  to  make  needed  repairs.  It  was  subsequently  pur- 
chased and  enlarged  and  is  one  of  the  most  complete  educational 
establishments  in  the  land.  It  has  set  the  pace  for  schools  of 
other  sects  and  kept  the  lead  in  the  education  of  girls  in  North- 
ern Syria. 

I  shall  never  forget  our  return  voyage  on  the  Messageries 
French  steamer.  Mr.  Calhoun  and  I  walked  the  long  deck  with 
a  calm  sea  all  the  way  for  four  hours  to  Beirut.  It  was  a  delight 
to  hold  converse  with  such  a  man,  who,  for  thirty-three  years, 
had  been  studying  the  Bible  and  teaching  it  to  the  youth  of 

430 


The  Old  Man  of  Sin  431 

Syria.  He  was  dignified  and  grave  in  appearance  but  had  the 
heart  of  a  child  and  enjoyed  humour  with  great  zest.  In  the 
higher  realm  of  theological  thought  he  had  few  peers.  As 
Professor  Park  of  Andover  remarked,  "  He  knows  more  about 
theology  than  any  of  us." 

In  February,  1873,  Mr,  Chas.  Crocker  of  Sacramento,  builder  of 
the  Pacific  Railroad,  visited  Beirut  and  dined  at  President  Daniel 
Bliss's.  I  was  present.  Mr.  Crocker  gave  ^100  for  the  new  col- 
lege building,  and  on  hearing  of  a  Nubian  slave  girl  who  had 
taken  refuge  in  Dr.  Eddy's  house  in  Sidon  and  whose  late  owner 
demanded  $2$  for  her,  took  out  his  purse  and  gave  six  Napoleons. 
He  had  been  a  strong  anti-slavery  man  and  this  case  appealed  to 
him.     The  girl  was  set  free. 

On  the  nth  Franco  Pasha  died  and  was  buried  in  great  state 
at  the  Hazimiyeh  on  the  Damascus  Road  four  miles  from  Beirut. 
His  chief  monument  is  the  row  of  "  Pride  of  India  "  trees  on  both 
sides  of  the  Damascus  Road  and  on  some  of  the  mountain  roads. 
He  was  a  plain  man  and  well  meaning,  but  too  easily  influenced 
by  political  hacks  and  a  fanatical  priesthood. 

At  this  time  I  was  putting  through  the  press  Mosheim's 
Church  History,  a  Sunday-school  Question  Book,  and  an 
illustrated  book  for  children,  with  nine  religious  services  every 
week  and  an  extended  correspondence  in  Arabic  and  English. 

In  January,  1874,  Mr.  P ,  once  connected  with  the  United 

Presbyterian  Mission  in  Egypt,  came  to  Syria  to  propagate  close 
Brethrenism.  He  was  a  man  of  morbid  disposition,  at  times 
seeming  to  be  mentally  disordered  but  had  a  gift  of  prayer  and 
pious  language  which  fascinated  not  a  few.  Several  discharged 
mission  and  college  employees  and  some  who  were  restless  under 
the  demand  of  the  native  churches  for  liberal  gifts  towards  self- 
support  joined  him.  He  denounced  a  paid  ministry  and  all 
church  organization  and  taught  perfectionism  in  its  baldest  phase. 
"  No  Christian  can  sin.  It  is  the  old  man  who  sins.  We  are  the 
new  man.  If  the  old  man  inside  gets  rampant  and  lies  and  steals 
I  am  not  responsible."  His  illustration  was  that  the  entering  of 
the  new  man  into  the  old  one  was  like  thrusting  a  single  cartridge 


432  A  Cholera  Year 

into  a  double-barrelled  gun.  The  new  man  cannot  sin.  If  the 
otiier  barrel  goes  off  and  somebody  is  hurt,  it  is  the  old  man's 
work.  He  travelled  about  and  made  a  few  converts  here  and 
there.  In  Hums  one  of  his  disciples  robbed  the  shop  of  another. 
When  called  to  account  he  replied  triumphantly,  "  It  was  the 
*  insan  el  ateuk '  (the  old  man)  who  did  it." 

In  Germany  one  of  this  type  of  believers  committed  a  crime 
and  was  brought  before  the  judge.  He  put  in  the  plea, "  The 
old  man  did  it ;  I  did  not."  "  Very  well  then,"  said  the  judge, "  send 
that  old  man  to  jail  for  six  months." 

This  peculiar  sect  has  had  many  godly  adherents  in  England 
but  its  tendency  in  this  land  has  been  Ishmaelitic  and  disinte- 
grating. Each  brother  is  bound  to  sit  in  judgment  on  every 
other  and  to  commune  with  no  one  who  is  not  perfect.  The 
logical  result  soon  followed. 

At  first  they  all  met  and  each  in  turn  administered  the  com- 
munion. None  but  brethren  were  admitted.  Soon  they  split 
into  sections  neither  of  which  would  commune  with  the  other  and 
finally  each  formed  an  exclusive  sect  by  himself.  The  result  has 
been  demoralizing,  and  has  blasted  the  spiritual  life  of  many, 
stopped  all  charitable  and   religious   contributions  among  them, 

and  stifled  all  evangelistic  work.     Mr.  P said  he  was  called  to 

preach  to  the  elect  and  to  pull  them  out  of  the  other  sects.  He 
seemed  to  have  lost  all  hope  and  never  laboured  for  the  uncon- 
verted. The  great  aim  seemed  to  be  to  break  up  the  little 
evangelical  church  in  Syria.  Thirty-six  years  have  passed  and 
only  the  scarred  and  tattered  remnants  of  his  work  remain. 
When  he  died,  his  widow,  a  strict  follower  of  the  "  Brethren  " 
views,  sent  for  me  to  conduct  his  funeral,  and  I  have  conducted 
the  funeral  of  all  the  members  who  have  died  in  Beirut.  One  of 
the  last  was  this  same  widow  Sada,  in  her  early  days  a  gifted, 
sprightly  and  beautiful  Christian  teacher,  but  in  her  widowhood 
lapsed  into  melancholy.  The  son  asked  me  to  conduct  her 
funeral  service,  which  I  did,  assured  that  with  all  the  strange 
vagaries  of  her  later  life,  she  was  at  heart  a  true  child  of  Christ, 
who  trusted  in  Him  alone  for  salvation. 


The  Press  and  the  Pasha  433 

The  Tripoli  Girls'  School  which  commenced  with  three  pupils 
has  now  over  forty.  The  New  Year's  festival  of  the  school  was 
noticed  commendably  by  the  Arabic  journal  of  Beirut. 

The  Jesuits  have  lately  been  proved  guilty  of  abducting  two 
Greek  girls  from  Beirut,  one  of  whom  they  sent  to  Zahleh  and 
the  other  to  Sidon  to  their  convents.  Both  of  the  girls  were 
rescued  and  restored  to  their  parents,  after  the  French  monks  and 
nuns  had  tried  to  conceal  their  whereabouts  by  an  amount  of 
hedging  that  would  shame  a  Nusairi. 

The  American  Press  in.  Beirut,  established  in  Malta  in  1822 
and  removed  to  Beirut  in  1834,  has  always  confirmed  strictly  to 
the  laws  of  the  empire.  The  code  of  laws  of  public  instruction 
was  issued  in  the  Turkish  language  in  1869,  but  not  translated 
for  years  afterwards.  The  pashas  themselves  were  ignorant  of  its 
provisions.  All  knew  that  it  was  unlawful  to  print  anything  at- 
tacking the  Sultan  or  his  government  or  prejudicial  to  good 
morals. 

In  March,  1874,  Dr.  Van  Dyck  printed  a  Httle  tract  for  Louis 
Sabanjy  a  papal  Syriac  priest,  replying  to  attacks  upon  another 
priest,  Yusef  Daiad,  printed  without  objection  from  the  govern- 
ment and  written  by  the  Maronite  bishop  of  Beirut.  Priest  Y. 
Daud  had  established  the  well-known  fact  in  church  history  that 
the  Maronites  were  a  heretical  Monothelite  sect  holding  that 
Christ  had  only  one  will,  a  divine  will.  Sabanjy's  tract  defended 
Baud's  position  and  contained  nothing  against  the  government 
or  good  morals.  The  Maronites  complained  and  Ibrahim  Pasha 
sent  and  ordered  Dr.  Van  Dyck  to  shut  the  press  for  a  month 
and  pay  a  fine  of  ten  Turkish  pounds.  Dr.  Van  Dyck  referred 
him  to  Mr.  Consul  Hay  and  protested  against  the  pasha's  adjudg- 
ing the  case  without  a  trial.  The  protest  was  forwarded  to  Con- 
stantinople and  not  heard  of  again.  A  few  days  later  the  deputy 
chief  of  police  sent  a  piece  of  job  work  to  our  press  and  it  was 
printed  for  the  government.  A  Maronite  banker  more  zealous 
than  discreet  offered  our  mechanical  manager  two  hundred 
pounds  as  a  bribe  if  he  would  shut  up  the  press  for  a  month,  to 
save  the  dignity  of  the  Maronite  bishop. 


434  A  Cholera  Year 

Since  that  day  the  government  has  given  the  press  a  regular 
official  permit,  and  as  the  new  laws  are  perfectly  understood  we 
have  comparatively  little  trouble.  The  chief  difficulty  is  with  the 
censors  of  the  press.  No  one  objects  to  a  censorship,  in  a  land 
where  men  of  all  sects  are  ready  to  fly  at  each  other's  throats  and 
to  vituperate  others  in  language  surpassing  an  Arkansas  back- 
woods editor.  But  the  trouble  is  with  the  censor  himself.  Every 
foreign  book  coming  into  the  empire  through  the  custom-house 
is  detained  by  the  censor  for  examination.  If  the  book  contains 
anything  about  Mohammed  or  the  Sultan  or  Turkey  or  Syria  or 
Arabia  or  Mecca  it  will  be  either  mutilated  or  confiscated.  En- 
cyclopedias as  such  are  prohibited  as  they  are  supposed  to  con- 
tain articles  on  these  subjects.  As  a  result  all  encyclopedias 
coming  to  Turkey  have  these  articles  cut  out  before  shipment 
from  America. 

Even  Murray's  and  Baedeker's  guide-books  are  often  seized  and 
confiscated  by  overzealous  inspectors.  Of  every  Arabic  book  pre- 
pared in  manuscript  for  publication  we  must  send  two  manuscript 
copies  to  Constantinople  for  examination.  There  it  may  be  de- 
tained six  months  or  a  year,  and  then  it  comes  back  so  mutilated 
in  many  cases  as  to  be  unfit  for  publication.  And  the  printed 
copy  must  be  sent  to  Constantinople  for  comparison  again  before 
it  is  offered  for  sale.  Sometimes  the  censors  are  grossly  ignorant 
and  make  endless  trouble.  Alas  for  the  daily  papers  which  must 
send  a  proof  of  every  day's  edition  to  the  censor  who  may  at  the 
eleventh  hour  strike  out  several  columns  and  oblige  the  editor  to 
substitute  other  matter  and  refer  it  again  to  the  censor.  On  this 
account  the  editors  keep  in  type  quantities  of  padding,  such  as 
poems  and  European  gossip,  etc.,  which  they  substitute  for  the 
victimized  and  proscribed  matter. 

Prof.  John  Orne  of  Harvard  published  an  account  of  the  Amer- 
ican Press  in  1894  ^^  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra.  His  estimate  of  its 
importance  is  of  great  value,  and  ought  to  be  read  by  all  inter- 
ested in  missions. 

On  February  12,  1874,  I  wrote  Rev.  F.  F.  Ellinwood,  D.  D.,  in 
part: 


Rain,  Hail,  Snow,  Storm  435 

"  The  past  month  has  been  one  of  unprecedented  storms 
throughout  Syria.  Rain,  hail,  snow,  accompanied  by  violent 
gales  of  wind,  have  swept  over  sea  and  land.  The  destruction  of 
property  by  landsides  and  floods  is  wide-spread  and  disheartening 
to  the  poor  fellahin.  In  the  north  the  sheep  have  died  by  hun- 
dreds. Many  poor  wayfaring  men  have  been  swept  away  by  the 
swollen  streams,  and  the  heights  of  Lebanon  are  covered  with 
such  a  mass  of  snow  that  the  Damascus  diligence  has  not  been 
able  to  run  for  a  fortnight  so  that  thousands  of  men  are  now  at 
work  digging  through  the  drifts.  The  houses  of  the  mountaineers 
are  saturated  with  water  and  many  roofs  have  fallen  in.  One 
caravan  from  Hums  to  Tripoli  had  to  slaughter  three  camels 
which  had  broken  their  legs  in  the  deep  mud  sloughs  on  the  way 
Last  year  the  whole  land  was  perishing  from  drought  and  now  it 
is  suffering  from  floods  of  water.  Would  that  we  had  such  tokens 
of  the  spirit's  presence  as  we  long  for !  The  news  of  financial 
pressure  at  home  is  painful  to  us  here,  and  we  must  apply  the 
knife  of  retrenchment  without  shrinking.  We  are  beginning  to 
shut  up  some  of  our  schools  already.  The  printing  work  is  to  be 
reduced  at  once,  and  we  are  proposing  to  stop  the  issue  of  the 
weekly,  Neshra,  the  Arabic  religious  paper  which  is  identified 
with  the  name  of  the  mission  throughout  Syria.  You  may  de- 
pend on  our  willingness  to  make  all  possible  sacrifices  to  help  the 
Board  of  Missions  to  weather  the  storm.  The  Austrian  Lloyd 
steamer  is  just  in,  having  thrown  overboard  a  part  of  its  cargo  to 
save  the  ship  during  a  storm.  We  must  do  the  same.  At  all 
events  we  will  not  give  up  the  ship." 

During  this  year  Mr.  Dale  was  greatly  troubled  in  Zahleh  by 
the  arbitrary  arrest  of  the  keeper  of  the  book-shop  and  his  ban- 
ishment without  a  trial.  Miss  Wilson  had  gone  to  England. 
Some  months  later  the  priest  who  had  preferred  charges  against 
him  was  himself  banished  for  striking  and  insulting  the  same 
native  helper,  and  subsequently  His  Excellency,  the  pasha,  became 
the  warm  friend  of  Mr.  Dale,  the  mission,  and  the  college.  Mr. 
Wood  was  transferred  to  Sidon,  as  the  work  done  in  the  Abeih 
school  had  been  transferred  to  the  college.     In  Beirut  land  was 


43^  A  Cholera  Year 

purchased  in  the  eastern  quarter  for  a  chapel  and  a  school- 
house. 

Consul-General  Hay  was  removed  and  Col.  George  Fisher 
came  in  his  place. 

Miss  Fisher's  health  having  failed,  she  returned  to  America 
and  Mrs.  Shrimpton  resigned  her  position  in  the  Tripoli  School. 

Dr.  Thomson  spent  six  months  in  England  on  business  con- 
nected with  "  The  Land  and  the  Book." 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Eddy  and  children  and  Misses  Anna  H.  Jessup 
and  Lilian  Jessup  left  for  America  in  June. 

At  this  time  the  Turkish  authorities  allowed  it  to  be  published  in 
Constantinople  that  all  Protestant  schools  were  to  be  closed.  The 
word  reached  Europe  and  we  received  letters  asking  if  it  were  true. 

1.  Rev.  Mr.  Zeller  of  Nazareth  tried  to  open  a  girls'  school  in 
Acre  and  was  forbidden. 

2.  In  Safita  where  American  schools  had  been  in  operation 
for  nine  years  the  local  mudir  got  orders  to  close  them  but  told 
the  people  he  thought  it  too  small  a  business  to  make  trouble  about. 

3.  In  the  Nusairiyeh  Mountains  east  and  southeast  of 
Latakia,  twenty-five  schools  of  the  American  Reformed  Presby- 
terian Mission  which  had  been  in  operation  for  twenty  years 
were  forcibly  closed  by  the  Turkish  officials  and  that  poor  pagan 
population,  thirsting  for  education,  are  forbidden  to  allow  their 
children  to  be  taught.  The  persecution  near  Latakia  was 
brutal  and  violent.  Turkish  soldiers  broke  down  the  doors  of 
the  American  school  building,  insulted  the  teacher's  wife  and  tore 
off  her  clothing  and  jewelry,  arrested  all  the  Christian  young  men, 
bound  them  and  took  them  prisoners. 

The  case  was  referred  to  the  Protestant  ambassadors  at  the 
Porte  and  full  statements  sent  to  the  Evangelical  Alliance  in 
London,  that  pillar  of  religious  liberty  and  shield  of  the  perse- 
cuted throughout  the  world,  and  an  investigation  was  ordered. 
But  the  Turks  have  closed  the  door  to  all  Christian  light  for  the 
pagan  Nusairiyeh,  resolved  on  making  them  Moslems.  But 
they  still  hate  and  curse  Islam  and  pray  for  the  day  when  their 
children  can  be  taught  in  the  Christian  schools  again. 


A  Prophecy  Fulfilled  437 

Notwithstanding  the  outburst  of  hostility  to  our  schools  not 
one  of  them  has  been  closed.  In  December,  1874,  we  had 
sixty-one  common  schools  with  i,7S3  boys  and  510  girls; 
three  female  seminaries  in  Beirut,  Tripoli  and  Sidon  with  seventy- 
six  pupils ;  one  boys'  seminary  with  thirty  boys  ;  one  college  with 
sixty-eight  students,  making  2,474  pupils  in  all. 

In  i860  Dr.  Thomson  declared  that  the  Arabic  Press  would 
one  day  be  sent  over  120  degrees  of  longitude,  from  Mogadore 
on  the  Atlantic  to  Pekin  in  Eastern  China.  In  1874  this  had 
become  a  fact,  and  in  December,  1874,  an  order  came  from  the 
governor-general  of  Allahabad  in  North  India  for  a  considerable 
number  of  Arabic  books  published  at  the  Beirut  Mission  Press. 
Books  had  already  been  sent  to  Liberia  and  Pekin  and  thus  the 
influence  of  the  Syria  Mission  Press  was  extending  more  and 
more  widely. 

September  19,  1874,  I  wrote  a  friend:  "  The  Syrian  summer 
is  drawing  towards  its  close  and  I  write  to  tell  you  of  a  few  facts 
bearing  on  its  recent  history.  As  the  last  winter  was  one  of 
intense  cold,  deep  snows,  famine  and  suffering,  so  the  summer 
has  been  one  of  unprecedented  sickness.  I  suppose  it  would  be 
safe  to  say  that  tens  of  thousands  of  the  people  are  now  lying 
sick  of  various  fevers  from  Gaza  on  the  south  to  Aleppo  on  the 
north.  In  some  villages  work  is  almost  suspended.  Yesterday 
I  was  in  Ain  Zehalteh,  one  of  the  highest  and  healthiest  of  the 
mountain  villages,  and  150  of  the  people  were  prostrated  with 
fever  out  of  a  population  of  less  than  600.  Two  young  students 
of  the  Beirut  Medical  College  had  their  hands  full  in  tending 
upon  the  sick.  All  through  Palestine  and  the  region  east  of  the 
Jordan  fevers  are  an  epidemic. 

"  The  Turkish  military  expedition  to  Northern  Moab  for  the 
subjection  of  the  rebellious  Arab  tribes  was  broken  up  by  the 
illness  of  the  officers  and  men.  One  of  the  tribes  of  the  Bedawin 
had  sent  seven  young  sheikhs  to  a  certain  village  as  hostages  and 
one  of  them  fell  sick.  The  tribe  demanded  their  release  or  re- 
moval to  a  healthier  place.  The  Turks  declined.  Soon  after  the 
Bedawin  mustered  a  force  of  400  horsemen  and  attacked   the 


438  A  Cholera  Year 

town  by  night,  overpowered  the  forty  Turkish  troops,  released 
the  hostages,  and  plundered  the  treasury  of  30,000  piastres. 
The  Arab  tribes  on  the  borders  have  been  unusually  turbulent 
and  destructive  in  their  raids  this  summer,  and  the  villagers 
north,  east,  and  south  of  Damascus  have  suffered  irreparable  loss 
in  cattle,  sheep,  camels,  and  grain.  The  '  Sabeans '  and  '  Chal- 
deans '  of  the  time  of  Job  maintain  worthy  successors  in  the  land  of 
Uz  in  these  modern  times.  The  Bedawin  question  is  as  great  a 
problem  for  the  Turks  as  is  the  Indian  question  for  the  Americans. 

"  After  all  that  is  said  of  the  decay  of  the  Ottoman  power,  it  is 
certain  that  they  have  shown  marvellous  energy  in  keeping  up 
their  military  and  civil  service  throughout  the  empire.  They 
do  somehow  collect  enormous  taxes  and  gather  immense  sums 
of  money  from  the  people;  even  when  famine  and  want  are 
crushing  them  to  the  dust.  They  maintain  a  well-equipped 
army  and  have  recently  imported  into  Syria  180  rifled  steel 
breech-loading  pieces  of  field  artillery,  and  cargo  of  American 
breech-loading  rifles,  with  fixed  ammunition.  They  are  about 
taking  a  census  of  the  whole  empire  and  seem  to  be  laying  their 
plans  to  live,  whatever  else  the  Russian  government  may  be 
planning  for  them.  They  have  a  postal  telegraph  service,  de- 
fective enough,  and  yet  enabling  the  central  power  in  Constanti- 
nople to  move  the  whole  empire  like  a  machine. 

"  Hostility  to  foreigners,  and  jealousy  of  their  presence  and 
operations  of  every  description,  commercial,  educational,  and  re- 
ligious, are  on  the  evident  increase.  Let  us  be  thankful  to  God 
that  the  opportunities  of  the  past  have  been  improved,  and  that 
the  Bible  has  a  foothold  in  every  important  part  of  the  Turkish 
Empire  to-day,  from  which  nothing  short  of  a  second  St. 
Bartholomew's  day  can  expel  it.  The  translation  and  printing 
of  the  Arabic  Bible  alone,  as  accomplished  already,  will  more 
than  justify  the  expenditure  of  men  and  means  during  half  a 
century  in  Syria.  And  were  the  Syria  Mission  to-day  to  be 
expelled  by  fire  and  sword,  that  Bible  would  remain  and  with  it 
the  evangelical  churches  and  evangelical  sentiments  of  thousands 
of  the  people  of  the  various  sects  in  the  land. 


A  Loving  Testimonial  439 

"On  the  nth  of  November,  1874,  two  beloved  elders  of  the 
Beirut  church,  Mr.  Elias  Fuaz  and  Mr.  John  Abcarius,  called  on 
me  and  presented  me  on  behalf  of  the  Beirut  church  a  beautiful 
octagonal  walnut  casket,  containing  a  filigree  silver  tray,  with 
twelve  silver  coffee  cup  holders,  and  a  gold  lined  silver  sugar 
bowl,  with  an  Arabic  letter  from  the  Beirut  church  full  of  expres- 
sions of  loving  gratitude  for  my  services  to  them  for  the  fourteen 
years  past.  I  had  been  acting  as  their  pastor  for  the  past  four- 
teen years  and  although  constantly  urging  them  to  call  a  native 
pastor,  I  had  been  obliged  to  continue  in  this  service  for  want  of 
a  suitable  candidate.  I  had  been  acting  pastor  of  the  church — 
not  of  my  own  choice,  but  by  the  vote  of  my  brethren.  I  al- 
ways regarded  the  relation  as  a  mere  temporary  one,  made  neces- 
sary by  the  failure  to  find  a  native  pastor,  I  preached  to  them 
and  visited  them  when  sick  and  well,  married  them,  baptized  their 
children,  administered  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  buried  their  dead. 
I  loved  them,  tried  to  bear  their  infirmities  and  at  times  found  the 
position  a  trying  one,  but  I  loved  them  and  they  evidently  loved 
me  in  return.  But  the  situation  was  perilous  and  I  was  relieved 
more  than  words  can  express  when  in  July,  1890,  my  old  pupil 
Rev,  Yusef  Bedr  was  settled  over  the  church  as  its  first  legitimate 
pastor.  I  keep  this  gift  as  a  precious  souvenir  of  the  good  men 
and  women,  now  almost  all  gone  to  glory,  with  whom  I  lived  and 
laboured  for  many  years. 

"  The  transit  of  Venus  on  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  December 
was  an  event  of  profound  interest.  Dr.  Van  Dyck  the  astronomer 
of  the  Beirut  College  had  published  in  the  Neshra  a  calcula- 
tion of  the  exact  time  of  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  transit 
and  though  the  preceding  day  was  one  of  clouds  and  rain,  the 
morning  of  Wednesday  was  clear  and  beautiful.  When  the 
mighty  disk  of  the  sun  came  rolling  up  above  the  summits  of 
Mount  Lebanon,  the  planet  Venus,  that  bright  morning  star,  lay 
like  a  minute  black  speck  on  its  face.  It  continued  to  move  up- 
ward and  northward,  until  at  8  :  29  it  touched  the  inner  edge  of 
the  sun's  circumference  and  at  8  :  5  3  its  outer  edge.  It  was  plainly 
visible  through  a  plain  smoked  glass,  and  multitudes  were  watch- 


440  A  Cholera  Year 

ing  its  progress.  Dr.  Van  Dyck  obtained  successful  observations 
of  the  transit  which  have  been  transmitted  to  the  Imperial  Ob- 
servatory at  Constantinople  and  to  London.  It  was  a  most  im- 
pressive spectacle  and  affected  my  mind  as  no  eclipse  or  other 
phenomenon  ever  did  before.  And  it  was  perhaps  because  my 
thoughts  took  a  religious  direction  at  the  very  moment  of  the 
observation.  It  became  a  striking  illustration  of  what  the 
brightest  earthly  objects  may  become  when  thrust  between  us  and 
Christ.  This  fair  planet  whose  soft  liquid  light  is  so  brilliant  in 
September  that  it  is  reflected  in  the  sea  and  casts  a  distinct  shadow, 
which  knows  no  peer  among  the  stars  when  filling  its  legitimate 
sphere  and  shedding  the  reflected  rays  of  the  sun's  original  light, 
is  suddenly  transformed  in  December  into  a  positive  deformity,  an 
unsightly  blot  on  the  sun's  face,  and  instead  of  shining  upon  the 
earth,  actually  intercepts  a  portion  of  the  sunlight  and  prevents 
its  reaching  the  earth.  Thus  anything  earthly,  however  shining 
and  attractive,  however  useful  and  noble,  when  in  its  proper 
sphere,  subordinate  to  Christ  and  borrowing  its  lustre  and  glory 
from  Him,  becomes  a  blemish,  a  blot,  an  injury,  when  obtruding 
itself  between  us  and  our  Saviour.  Here  in  the  East  the  whole 
machinery  of  Oriental  Ritualism  in  the  Eastern  Churches  has 
been  thrust  between  the  people  and  Christ  and  becomes  a  dark 
blot,  a  cloud  interrupting  the  light  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness. 
The  Church,  so  lovely  in  itself  when  shining  in  the  light  of  Christ, 
loses  its  lustre  and  becomes  a  mere  dark  and  insignificant  body, 
when  thrust  into  the  place  of  Christ  or  magnified  above  Him. 

"  Venus  never  appeared  to  my  eye  so  small,  as  when  brought 
into  such  overwhelming  contrast  with  the  stupendous  proportions 
of  the  King  of  Day.  On  a  summer's  evening  when  seen  from 
Lebanon,  just  dropping  into  the  sea,  whose  waves  are  silvered 
with  its  light  for  miles,  Venus  seems  almost  a  sun  in  itself.  It  is 
shining  as  God  intended  it  to  shine,  reflecting  the  bright  rays 
of  the  sun.  But  when  in  a  transit  across  the  sun's  face,  it  seemed 
so  small,  so  black,  that  it  was  easy  to  believe  what  the  astronomers 
tell  us,  that  one  hundred  and  ten  such  spots  would  hardly  form  a 
line  long  enough  to  cross  the  diameter  of  the  sun." 


A  VIEW  IN  LEBANON 
Near  Ain  Anub,  on  the  road  between  Abeih  and  Beirut. 


Dr.  Ellinwood's  Visit  441 

1875 — On  February  17th,  we  were  favoured  with  a  visit  from 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  EUinwood.  As  secretary  of  the  Board  he  had  been 
in  China,  Japan,  Slam,  and  India,  and  his  stay  in  Syria  was  a 
blessing  to  us  all.  We  held  a  meeting  of  the  mission  andhstened 
to  his  counsels.  There  was  no  air  of  official  dignity  nor  assump- 
tion of  the  right  to  dictate,  but  a  simple,  clear,  level-headed  han- 
dling of  even  the  most  complicated  questions.  He  gave  us  the 
benefit  of  his  observations  in  the  missions  in  Central  and  Eastern 
Asia,  and  we  enjoyed  the  intercourse  with  a  man  so  scholarly, 
consecrated  and  refined. 

The  long  expected  celebration  of  the  introduction  of  the  Dog 
River  water  into  Beirut  took  place  yesterday,  May  14,  1875,  in  an 
immense  canopy  erected  on  the  top  of  the  upper  reservoir.  The 
Waly  of  Syria,  the  Governor  of  Lebanon,  the  Pasha  of  Beirut, 
and  the  Algerian  Prince,  Abd  el  Kadir  of  Damascus,  as  well  as 
all  the  dignitaries  foreign  and  native  of  Beirut  and  Lebanon,  to- 
gether with  the  missionaries,  bishops,  priests,  merchants,  physi- 
cians, etc.,  etc.,  assisted  at  the  exercises. 

This  living  volume  of  "  streams  from  Lebanon  "  is  a  glorious 
boon  to  this  ancient  city.  The  name  Beeroth  (Beirut)  "  City  of 
Wells  "  will  remain,  but  the  wells  from  which  water  has  been 
drawn  for  thousands  of  years  will  soon  go  into  disuse.  Public 
hydrants  are  opened  in  the  different  quarters  of  the  city,  fountains 
are  beginning  to  play  in  private  gardens.  Dwellings,  schools, 
churches,  khans,  mosques,  shops,  and  coffee-houses  are  being 
supplied  rapidly  with  the  delicious  water,  and  Beirut  is  receiving 
fresh  vitality. 

Editors  and  poets  are  vying  with  each  other  in  singing  the 
praises  of  the  Dog  River  water  and  Damascus  is  no  longer  suffered 
to  boast  over  its  rival  Beirut. 

What  a  type  water  is  of  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel.  May  the 
life-giving  streams  of  gospel  truth  soon  flow  in  every  house  and 
every  heart,  not  only  in  Beirut  but  in  all  Syria  ! 

On  June  29th,  Dr.  Van  Dyck  was  summoned  by  telegraph  to 
the  bedside  of  Dr.  Galen  B.  Danforth,  in  Tripoli.  Dr.  Danforth 
was   dangerously  ill  with  gastric  malarial  fever  and  succumbed  to 


442  A  Cholera  Yeaf 

it  July  9th,  leaving  a  widow  and  two  little  daughters,  just  one 
month  after  Mr.  S.  H.  Calhoun  and  family  sailed  for  America. 
He  had  been  in  Syria  three  and  one-half  years  and  had  begun  a 
career  of  great  usefulness.  His  reputation  was  growing  and  the 
sorrow  at  his  death  was  great  through  the  whole  region  of 
Tripoli,  Safita,  and  Hums. 

When  stricken  down  he  was  planning  to  summer  with  Rev. 
Samuel  Jessup  in  the  picturesque  village  of  Seir,  six  hours  east 
of  Tripoli.  On  June  5th  I  rode  up  there  with  him,  my  brother 
Samuel  and  Mr.  Hardin.  It  is  the  most  beautiful  site  in  Leb- 
anon, crystal  streams  and  fountains  of  ice-cold  water,  splendid 
ancient  oak  trees,  and  bracing  air,  and  above  on  the  south  and 
east  towering  cliffs  thousands  of  feet  high.  While  there,  Mustafa 
Agha,  whose  guests  we  were,  stole  my  field-glasses  from  my 
saddle-bags  outside  the  door  while  pretending  to  be  getting  coffee 
for  us.^  The  village  is  owned  by  two  rival  feudal  families  of  Mos- 
lem robbers  and  sheep  thieves,  with  half  a  dozen  Maronite  peas- 
ants as  their  retainers.  Could  that  nest  of  cutthroats  be  cleared 
out  and  a  decent  peasantry  be  placed  there,  it  would  be  the  most 
attractive  summer  resort  in  Syria.  As  it  is,  no  one  ventures  in 
to  that  earthly  paradise.  The  death  of  Dr.  Danforth  who  married 
Emily  Calhoun,  followed  the  next  year  in  December  by  the  death 
in  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  of  Rev.  Simeon  H.  Calhoun,  "  the  Saint  of  Leb- 
anon," broke  up  that  family  in  Abeih  which  for  twenty-seven 
years  had  been  the  model  family  of  Mount  Lebanon,  where  the 
noble,  godly,  scholarly  life  of  the  father,  the  sweet,  gladsome, 
cheerful  piety  of  the  mother,  and  the  loveliness  of  the  children, 
made  it  the  most  attractive  of  earthly  homes. 

Mrs.  Calhoun  returned  to  Syria  in  1877  and  laboured  in  Deir 
el  Komr,  Beirut,  and  Shwifat.  Her  daughter  Susan  was  stationed 
in  the  Tripoli  Girls'  School  in  1879  and  at  Shwifat  in  1880. 

The  only  son,  Charles  William  Calhoun,  M.  D.,  a  graduate  of 

'  When  we  came  out  to  mount  I  missed  the  glass,  and  he  swore  by 
the  beard  of  Mohammed  that  he  would  punish  the  man  who  stole  it. 
Ten  years  later  Dr.  Ira  Harris  of  Tripoli  was  called  to  the  beg's  house 
and  saw  ray  glass  there  minus  one  lens  ! 


The  Plague  Appears  443 

Williams,  his  father's  alma  mater,  and  a  skillful  surgeon,  came 
to  the  mission  from  America  in  July,  1879,  and  took  up  the  work 
of  his  late  brother-in-law  in  Tripoli.  He  was  a  hearty,  whole- 
souled  devoted  missionary ;  boyish,  and  so  full  of  life  and  humour 
that  he  kept  his  patients  laughing  even  when  tortured  with  pain. 
He  was  welcomed  in  the  villages  where  his  clinics  were 
crowded  with  hundreds  of  the  diseased  and  suffering,  and  his 
skill  and  patience  gave  him  a  great  reputation. 

Cholera  raged  in  Syria  in  1865,  and  returned  in  1875.  The 
latter  visitation  began  in  Hamath  among  the  Mecca  pilgrims.  It 
appeared  in  June,  and  spread  to  Hums,  Damascus  and  Beirut. 

Jewish  refugees  from  Damascus  carried  the  pest  to  the  village 
of  Saghbin  on  the  east  slope  of  the  Lebanon  range  facing  Mount 
Hermon.  Rev.  Gerald  F.  Dale,  Jr.,  who  was  living  in  Zahleh 
with  his  colleague,  Mr.  F.  W,  March,  had  a  little  Protestant  flock 
in  Saghbin  and  hearing  that  there  were  some  twenty  cases  in  the 
village  resolved  to  go  to  their  help,  and,  if  possible,  stay  the 
plague. 

We  in  Beirut,  profiting  by  the  experience  of  1865,  had  pre- 
pared a  large  supply  of  the  noted  "  Hamlin  Cholera  Remedy" 
(equal  parts  of  laudanum,  camphor  and  rhubarb)  and  sent  it  to 
all  the  stations,  with  printed  instructions  in  English  and  Arabic, 
taken  from  Dr.  Hamlin's  pamphlet  and  annotated  by  Dr.  Van 
Dyck.  Mr.  Dale  had  received  a  supply  and  gave  out  in  Zahleh 
that  he  was  going  to  stricken  Saghbin.  Now  as  usual  at  such 
times  the  whole  country  was  covered  with  a  network  of  cordons, 
village  against  village,  and  no  one  from  Saghbin  could  enter 
Zahleh.  The  people  flocked  to  Mr,  Dale's  house  and  begged 
him  not  to  go.  "  It  will  be  certain  death  to  you."  "  No  matter, 
I  am  not  afraid.  I  must  go  and  help  those  poor  people."  The 
"  Zahlehites  "  begged  him  not  to  go  and  finally  when  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  finding  one  man  willing  to  go  as  his  muleteer,  they 
warned  him  that  he  would  not  be  allowed  to  return  to  Zahleh. 

On  reaching  the  village  he  found  the  teacher  at  his  post,  who 
reported  some  thirty  cases  of  cholera,  and  the  victims  in  despair, 
as  it  was  supposed  there  was  no  remedy  for  it.     The  mass  of  the 


444  A  Cholera  Year 

people  and  all  of  the  priests  had  fled  to  the  vineyards  far  up  the 
mountainside,  leaving  the  sick  without  food  or  care.  Mr.  Dale 
took  the  teacher  and  the  medicines  and  went  to  every  patient, 
giving  them  the  medicine  and  the  directions  and  assuring  them 
that  they  would  recover.  His  remedies  and  his  cheery  and  en- 
couraging words  did  wonders.  Only  one  patient  died  after  his 
arrival.  He  kept  going  the  rounds  and  trained  the  teacher  to 
use  the  medicines.  At  sunset  he  rang  the  chapel  bell  for  service. 
The  timid  people  in  the  vineyards  hearing  the  bell  took  courage 
and  began  to  come  back.  Confidence  was  restored  and  the 
plague  was  stayed.  The  Protestants  all  returned  to  their  houses, 
took  lessons  in  the  use  of  the  medicines,  and  in  a  week  the  morale 
of  the  people  was  restored. 

Mr.  Dale,  then,  finding  that  he  could  not  return  to  Zahleh, 
crossed  the  Lebanon  range  and  came  to  my  house  in  Shemlan, 
where  he  was  a  great  favourite  with  the  children.  This  visit  of 
Mr.  Dale  to  Saghbin  and  his  care  of  the  sick,  when  priests  and 
people  had  abandoned  their  sick,  gave  him  great  influence  in  all 
that  region.  On  his  return  to  Zahleh  in  August  he  had  an  ova- 
tion, and  his  example  won  him  and  his  cause  many  friends.  In 
April,  1876,  seventy  families  there  had  become  Protestants. 

Cholera  had  now,  August  6th,  reached  Beirut,  and  the  Lebanon 
government  placed  a  quarantine  of  six  days  on  all  persons  com- 
ing out  of  Beirut.  As  we  were  all  in  Lebanon,  this  put  a  stop 
to  our  visiting  Beirut.  Some  20,000  of  the  Beirut  population  had 
fled  to  the  Lebanon  towns  and  villages.  The  muleteers,  who 
reaped  a  harvest  by  transporting  the  panic-stricken  people  to  the 
mountains,  had  circulated  the  most  alarming  false  reports  for 
some  twenty  days  of  sudden  deaths  in  Beirut,  long  before  a  case 
of  cholera  had  occurred. 

The  Arabic  journals  discussed  what  ought  to  be  done  and  the 
city  government  exerted  itself  with  unprecedented  energy  in 
cleansing  the  streets,  lanes,  and  vaults.  The  Moslems,  contrary 
to  their  usual  custom,  were  leaving  the  city  in  large  numbers  for 
the  mountains,  and  the  new  Mohammedan  journal,  Tumrat  el 
Fuiioon,  had  an  elaborate  article  on  the  Divine  Decrees  and  Fate 


A  Magnificent  Fatalism  445 

which  is  so  characteristic  that  I  will  translate  a  part  of  it.  The 
object  of  the  writer,  Sheikh  Ibrahim  Effendi  Ahdab,  is  to  per- 
suade his  fellow  Moslems  to  remain  in  Beirut  without  fear  of 
cholera. 

"  Man's  allotted  term  of  life  is  an  impregnable  fortress.  God 
has  appointed  man's  sorrows  and  joys  by  an  eternal  decree  and 
wherever  man  turns,  he  must  walk  in  the  path  fixed  by  irrevers- 
ible fate. 

"  Be  calm  then ;  our  affairs  are  fixed  by  decree.  Banish  from 
your  thoughts  all  deceit.  Remain  where  you  are  and  save  your- 
selves the  trouble  of  removing.  Nothing  you  can  do  will  shield 
you  from  fate.  Everything  is  by  decree  and  fate.  No  human 
precautions  are  of  any  avail.  The  divine  allotment  is  the  castle 
of  our  life.  He  decides  in  His  wisdom  as  He  finds  necessary. 
When  a  man's  day  of  doom  is  far  off,  no  plague  or  accident  can 
hasten  it,  no  arrow  or  evil  eye  can  smite  him.  He  is  safe  in  his 
way  and  kept  by  the  care  of  his  Lord.  Let  him  rush  into  deadly 
battle,  let  him  leave  a  life  of  quiet  for  the  crashing  of  spear-heads, 
let  him  hurl  himself  into  the  jaws  of  Hons,  let  his  only  light  in 
darkness  be  the  flashing  of  the  shining  spear,  yet  he  is  safe. 

"  But  if  his  day  of  death  be  at  hand,  there  is  no  hope  of  pro- 
longing life.  No  care  or  cunning  can  ward  off  the  blow  of  death. 
No  precaution  of  ours  can  lengthen  life  the  winking  of  an  eye. 
How  can  career  caution  affect  what  fate  has  appointed  ? 

"  Can  he  escape  from  fate  though  he  fly  away  on  the  wings  of 
eagles  ?  Can  the  walls  of  castles  keep  off  the  approach  of  death  ? 
or  shield  from  his  arrows  when  once  his  bow  is  bent? 

"  One  of  the  ancient  kings  fled  from  the  plague,  defying  the 
divine  decree,  and  when  a  short  distance  away  from  the  city, 
fell  a  victim  to  the  plague.  The  lines  of  his  fate  met  when  fate 
decreed.  This  proves  our  position  and  leads  one  to  believe  what 
we  asserted  that  there  is  no  use  in  running  away  from  pestilence. 
It  is  better  for  each  man  to  remain  in  his  place  and  resign  him- 
self to  the  decree  and  fate  ;  especially  if  he  be  among  the  leaders  of 
the  people,  whom  great  and  small  look  up  to  and  imitate  and  no 
harm  shall  befall  him. 


446  A  Cholera  Year 

"  When  Khalid  Ibn  el  Walid,  the  great  Sword  of  Islam,  drew 
near  to  death,  as  he  lay  on  his  bed  in  peace,  after  he  had  plunged 
in  to  the  very  abysses  of  war  and  carnage,  and  there  was  not  a 
spot  on  his  body  unscarred  by  battle  wounds  and  the  point  of  the 
spear  and  arrow,  he  exclaimed  (may  God  be  propitious  to  him), 

*  Behold,  I  who  have  lived  amid  such  perils  and  raised  the  stand- 
ard in  so  many  battles,  now  die  a  natural  death  upon  my  bed ! ' 
And  this  also  proves  our  position. 

"  If  it  be  replied  that  God  has  bidden  us  avoid  the  leprous  and 
to  escape  from  lions,  and  to  this  there  is  no  exception,  I  reply 
that  this  refers  to  him  whose  faith  is  strong,  that  if  he  escapes  he 
will  avoid  these  dangers.  And  the  command  was  given  to  pre- 
vent men  falling  into  doubt  when  their  faith  is  not  strong  enough 
to  enable  them  to  face  the  danger.  The  traditions  of  the  Prophet 
prove  this.  He  once  (peace  be  upon  him)  sat  down  to  eat  with 
a  leper,  and  thrust  his  hand  into  the  dish  with  him  saying, '  Eat 
trusting  in  God  and  fear  no  evil.' 

"  Of  a  like  character  is  the  Prophet's  injunction  to  neither  enter 
nor  leave  a  place  where  there  is  pestilence.  This  command 
was  given  for  the  confirmation  of  faith  that  believers  might  not 
fall  into  doubt. 

"  Similar  is  what  is  said  of  the  Khalif  Omr  (may  God  favour 
him)  when  he  refused  to  enter  a  plague-stricken  city,  in  obedience 
to  the  command  *  enter  not,'  and  he  was  asked,  '  Do  you  refuse 
to  enter  in  order  to  escape  from  the  decree  of  God  ?  '     He  said, 

•  Yes,  we  escape  from  God's  decree  to  God's  decree,'  and  he  said 
this  to  prevent  the  weak  minded  from  holding  views  contrary  to 
the  Prophet's  command. 

"  In  truth,  life  is  limited  by  fate.  When  our  time  comes  it  will 
not  delay.  The  Great  Agent  is  God  the  Exalted.  There  is 
none  beside  Him.  No  creature  can  die  without  His  decree  and 
ordinance.  Trust  in  God.  Leave  all  things  to  His  decree  and 
you  will  be  at  rest  from  all  anxious  thoughts.  Fate  has  limited 
our  lives.  Whatever  befalls  you  was  decided  from  eternity  by 
the  One  Creator." 

This  is  in  brief  the  substance  of  the  sheikh's  poetical  utterance, 


A  Fortuitous  "  Concurrence  '*  44^ 

and  the  editor  Abd  el  Kadir  Kobbany  clinches  the  argument  by 
what  he  styles  "  A  Practical  Sermon  Confirming  the  Above." 

"  One  of  the  Christian  citizens  of  Damascus  fled  to  one  of  the 
villages  of  Jebel  Kolmun  to  escape  from  the  cholera  which  has 
driven  so  many  to  flee  from  their  homes  at  great  sacrifice  and  in- 
convenience. He  took  with  him  his  wife  and  son  and  on  arriving 
at  what  he  supposed  to  be  a  place  of  safe  refuge,  and  settling  his 
house,  his  servant  girl  opened  a  tin  of  kerosene  oil  by  melting  the 
red  wax  stopper  with  a  lighted  candle  when  by  a  concurrence  (!)  it 
took  fire  and  burned  up  the  house  and  the  entire  family.  Con- 
sider then  and  wonder  how  the  divine  decree  and  fate  led  them 
out  to  the  place  appointed  for  their  destruction  by  a  cause  other 
than  what  they  had  feared  and  tried  to  escape  from !  " 

From  this  you  can  derive  some  idea  of  the  modern  Moslem 
journalistic  treatment  of  the  great  theological  doctrine  of  fate. 
Just  how  they  act  upon  it  and  just  what  they  mean  by  it  is  better 
seen  by  their  deeds  than  by  their  words. 

In  1865  they  induced  the  Mufti  of  Beirut  to  decide  ex  cathedra 
that  Mohammed  forbade  flying  from  the  plague,  but  inasmuch  as 
cholera  did  not  exist  in  those  days,  he  had  no  reference  to  cholera 
and  men  can  act  now  as  they  please. 

This  year  they  are  going  ofl'to  the  mountains  in  large  numbers 
having  permission  to  leave,  on  Omr's  ground  that  •'  they  flee  from 
God's  decree  to  God's  decree,"  and  that  if  they  go  to  Lebanon 
they  are  decreed  to  go  to  Lebanon,  etc. 

But  the  modern  Moslem  is  not  disposed  to  imitate  Mohammed 
by  putting  his  hands  into  the  dish  and  eating  with  a  leper.  He 
would  insist  that  the  leper  be  clean  first.  Immediately  following 
the  article  on  fate  is  one  on  cleanliness  and  diet. 

The  editor  was  in  grandiloquent  style  mixing  his  remarks  with 
wit  and  satire. 

He  warns  the  people  against  gluttony  and  intemperance  ;  says 
that  in  some  of  the  streets  and  alleys  he  cannot  pass  without 
holding  both  his  nose  and  his  mouth  with  his  hands  and  that  it 
is  enough  to  give  one  the  plague  to  look  at  some  of  the  outhouses 
of  the  Beirut  mansions.     He  begs  the  gluttons  to  restrain  them- 


^48  A  Cholera  Year 

selves,  to  put  their  minds  into  their  heads  and  not  to  eat  three 
meals  in  one.  He  earnestly  recommends  that  they  do  not  begin 
the  day  by  eating,  as  he  had  himself  observed,  on  an  empty  stom- 
ach, five  unpeeled  cucumbers,  followed  by  half  a  dozen  hard  boiled 
eggs,  and  crowned  with  three  pounds  of  apricots,  as  such  a  course 
might  damage  their  fellow  men. 

He  says  that  unless  the  town  is  thoroughly  cleaned,  few  can 
escape  the  apprehended  pestilence.  He  says  that  some  may 
object  that  filth  and  gutters  and  garbage  are  not  clean  subjects 
for  a  respectable  editor  to  talk  about,  but  he  replies  that  "  if  you 
will  clean  the  city  I  will  have  a  clean  subject  to  write  upon  and 
the  cleaner  the  city  the  cleaner  the  paper !  " 

His  fatalism  fails  him  on  this  subject. 

The  semi-annual  meeting  of  the  mission  was  held  in  Abeih  in 
September  attended  by  eight  missionaries.  It  was  decided  that 
the  Abeih  Boys'  Seminary  should  hereafter,  1st,  train  teachers, 
2d,  prepare  boys  for  the  college,  3d,  teach  English  to  theological 
candidates.  Negotiations  were  set  on  foot  to  purchase  the  Jebran 
Abela  house  in  Sidon  for  the  girls'  boarding-school.  Miss  Kipp, 
broken  down  in  health,  sailed  December  15th,  on  the  American 
bark  Robinson  Crusoe  for  Boston. 

Captain  Robinson,  on  his  return  to  Beirut,  said  to  me,  "  Miss 
Kipp  is  the  most  truly  sincere  Christian  woman  I  ever  met.  She 
is  pure  gold."  She  afterwards  laboured  in  Auburn  in  the  Old 
Ladies'  Home  with  great  acceptance  and  continued  there  until 
her  death. 

Mrs.  Hanford  (now  Mrs.  Professor  Moore  of  Andover)  took 
her  place  in  Tripoli  school.  Dr.  W.  W.  Eddy  and  family  and 
Dr.  Dennis  and  family  returned  from  America.  Cholera  having 
ceased  in  Beirut,  the  mission  schools  and  the  college  opened  as 
usual  in  October. 

The  year  of  1876  was  one  of  great  unrest  and  excitement 
throughout  the  Turkish  Empire.  Insurrection  broke  out  in 
Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  in  Servia,  Montenegro,  and  Bulgaria. 
May  6th  the  French  and  German  consuls  were  murdered  in 
Salonica  and  massacres  occurred  in  Bulgaria.     May  I2th  a  revo- 


An  Incident  Closed  with  Prayer  449 

lution  occurred  in  Constantinople  resulting  in  the  fall  of  the 
Grand  Vizier  Mahmoud  Pasha.  May  30th  the  Sultan  Abdul 
Aziz  was  deposed  and  Murad  V  elevated  in  his  place.  June  4th 
Abdul  Aziz  was  assassinated.  August  31st  Murad  V  was  de- 
posed, being  succeeded  by  Abdul  Hamid  II.  December  19th 
Midhat  Pasha,  a  man  of  liberal  and  enlightened  views,  was  ap- 
pointed grand  vizier  and  on  December  23d  a  constitution  was 
proclaimed  for  the  Turkish  Empire. 

The  Mohammedans  were  distressed  at  the  drain  on  their  men 
for  the  wars  in  the  north  and  the  Christians  were  in  constant 
fear.  When  the  constitution  was  proclaimed,  the  Pasha  of 
Beirut,  a  liberal  and  enlightened  man,  summoned  representatives 
of  all  the  sects  to  the  seraia  to  hear  the  firman  of  Abdul  Hamid 
giving  equal  civil  rights  to  all  the  Sultan's  subjects  and  granting 
to  the  Christians  the  right  of  military  service  and  office.  After 
the  reading  of  the  official  firman  in  both  the  Turkish  and  Arabic 
languages,  the  pasha  asked  an  old  Mohammedan  sheikh  of  the 
Orthodox  School  to  close  the  ceremony  with  prayer.  All  the 
company  arose,  when  the  sheikh,  a  venerable  white-bearded  dig- 
nitary, stepped  forward  and  prayed  the  following  stereotyped 
prayer  which  is  used  in  prayers  for  the  Sultan  :  "  O  Allah,  grant 
the  victory  to  His  Imperial  Majesty  the  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid 
Khan.  Destroy  all  his  enemies  ;  destroy  the  Russians ;  O 
Allah,  destroy  the  infidels.  Tear  them  in  tatters,  grind  them  in 
powder,  rend  them  in  fragments,  because  they  are  the  enemies 
of  the  Mohammedans,  O  Allah !  "  He  was  about  to  proceed 
when  the  mufti,  or  chief  interpreter  of  the  Koranic  law,  stepped 
rapidly  up  to  him,  pulled  him  by  the  coat  collar,  stopped  him  and 
whispered  in  his  ear,  when  he  proceeded,  "  O  Allah,  destroy  the 
infidels  because  they  are  the  enemies  of  the  Moslems,  the  Chris- 
tians, and  the  Jews."  This  was  an  Orthodox  Mohammedan 
prayer,^  but  the  mufti  was  shrewd  enough  to  see  that  it  needed 
modification,  since  the  new  firman  guaranteed  equal  rights  to  all, 
and  it  was  hardly  the  proper  thing  to  offer  it  in  the  presence  of 
the  clergy  of  the  Greeks,  Catholics,  Maronites,  Armenians  and 
^See  Lane's  "  Modern  Egyptians,"  Vol.  II. 


450  A  Cholera  Year 

Protestants,  and  the  rabbis  of  the  Jews.  When  the  ceremony 
was  ended  the  bishops  left  in  high  dudgeon  and  sent  a  protest 
to  the  pasha  against  that  prayer.  He  replied  courteously  that  it 
was  a  mistake  and  would  never  be  repeated. 

War  did  not  actually  break  out  with  Russia  until  April,  1877, 
but  the  entire  year  1876  was  full  of  anxiety  and  fear  among  the 
Christian  population. 

The  mission  suffered  great  loss  this  year  in  the  resignation  and 
return  to  America,  August  4th,  of  Dr.  Wm.  M.  Thomson,  author 
of  "  The  Land  and  the  Book,"  and  the  death  of  Rev.  S.  H.  Cal- 
houn in  Buffalo  December  14th.  We  have  already  given  a  sketch 
of  the  lives  of  these  two  eminent  men,  the  like  of  whom  we  shall 
not  see  again.  Dr.  Thomson  lived  some  years  in  New  York  and 
then  in  Denver,  Col.,  with  his  daughter  Mrs.  Maria  Walker,  in 
whose  house  he  died  April  8,  1894,  aged  eighty-nine  years.  His 
daughter  Miss  Emilia  removed  to  Tripoli  in  May,  as  colleague  of 
Miss  H.  La  Grange,  who  arrived  in  January  with  Miss  Everett 
from  New  York.  Since  that  time  for  thirty-three  years  Miss  La 
Grange  has  continued  as  the  faithful,  beloved  and  successful 
head  of  the  Tripoli  Girls'  Boarding-School.  Miss  Thomson  later 
on  came  to  Beirut  where  she  is  an  invaluable  member  of  the  fac- 
ulty of  the  girls'  school. 

The  Emperor  Dom  Pedro  of  Brazil  has  just  been  in  Beirut  and 
visited  all  our  literary  institutions  and  went  carefully  through  the 
press.  We  gave  him  a  set  of  all  our  Arabic  scientific  and  educa- 
tional publications  and  a  fine  copy  of  the  vowelled  Arabic  Bible 
for  the  library  of  Brazil.  He  was  a  plain,  modest  man,  who  came 
to  Syria  incognito  and  showed  a  deep  interest  in  all  educational 
and  literary  work.  We  little  thought  that  in  thirteen  years  he 
would  be  obliged  to  abdicate,  and  that  within  thirty  years  not 
less  than  25,000  Syrian  emigrants  would  have  entered  Brazil  and 
that  several  Arabic  newspapers  would  be  published  in  Rio  Janeiro 
and  San  Paulo ! 

In  April,  1877,  Russia  declared  war  against  Turkey  and  the 
whole  empire  was  in  distress.  Sixty  thousand  men  were  taken 
from  Syria,  leaving  their  families  in  thousands  of  cases  unpro- 


Philip  SchafF's  Visit  451 

vided  for  and  in  great  suffering.  New  money  taxes  were  levied 
and  the  Christians,  who  at  such  times  are  envied  on  account  of 
not  having  to  furnish  soldiers,  were  in  great  fear  of  massacre. 

Rev.  Dr.  Philip  Schaff  visited  Syria  in  April  and  we  were 
greatly  refreshed  by  his  visit.  He  was  in  vigorous  health  and 
overflowing  with  wit  and  wisdom.  Mrs.  Schaff  preceded  him  to 
Beirut  in  company  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Egbert  Starr  of  New  York. 

It  gave  me  great  pleasure  to  show  Dr.  Schaff  our  press,  the 
schools,  the  college,  the  theological  class,  and  the  German  Dea- 
conesses' Institute.  We  asked  him  to  address  the  theological 
students  and  I  offered  to  translate  for  him,  as  the  students  did 
not  know  English.  He  began,  and,  to  my  dismay,  I  found  he 
was  speaking  in  Latin.  I  had  been  out  of  Yale  College  twenty- 
six  years  and  my  last  essay  in  Latin  was  the  presbytery  trial 
piece  in  1855,  so  that  I  had  to  use  "  that  thing  which  I  call  my 
mind"  with  some  rapidity,  but  Dr.  Schaff  spoke  deliberately  and 
I  succeeded  in  giving  them  at  least  the  "substance  of  doctrine" 
which  the  doctor  was  presenting  with  such  mediaeval  fluency. 
Dr.  Dennis  and  I  made  no  comment  on  his  fluency  in  Latin  and 
I  never  spoke  of  it  until  the  fall  of  1879,  when  on  the  eve  of  my 
sailing  for  Syria  he  asked  me  to  address  the  students  of  the  Union 
Theological  Seminary  in  New  York.  Here  was  a  strong  tempta- 
tion to  address  them  in  Arabic.  But  I  desisted  and  instead  told 
the  students  of  the  doctor's  addressing  our  Beirut  students  in 
Latin  !  At  the  close  of  the  service  the  doctor  said  to  me,  "  Did 
I  actually  speak  at  that  time  in  Latin  ?  "  "  Certainly,"  said  I. 
"  Well,"  said  he,  "  I  was  not  conscious  of  it  at  the  time."  He 
was  so  familiar  with  Latin  that  he  spoke  it  as  freely  as  English  or 
German. 

It  was  a  fete  day  at  the  Prussian  deaconesses,  and  as  I  walked 
down  the  street  with  him  to  visit  them,  the  doctor  asked  me  if  I 
had  ever  read  Hans  Breitman.  I  said  yes.  He  was  much 
pleased  and  began  to  repeat  the  whole  of  "  Hans  Breitman  gave 
a  barty,"  and  "  Where  is  that  barty  now  ?  Gone  to  the  ewig- 
keit,"  and  he  shook  with  laughter  as  he  recited  it.  Leland's 
Anglo-German  language  he  appreciated  most  keenly. 


452  A  Cholera  Year 

On  entering  my  study  he  looked  around  on  the  books  and  his 
eye  caught  a  row  of  "  Lange's  Commentary  edited  by  P.  Schaff," 
and  he  exclaimed,  "  Mountains  of  mud  with  here  and  there  a  vein 
of  gold." 

"  Yes,"  said  I,  "  and  the  gold  is  chiefly  the  work  of  the  Ameri- 
can editor," 

He  was  deeply  interested  in  securing  a  Biblical  museum  in 
Union  Theological  Seminary  and  left  ;^350  with  a  committee 
consisting  of  Dr.  George  Post,  Dr.  E.  R.  Lewis,  and  myself  to 
purchase  "  such  implements  and  articles  original  or  imitated  as 
are  of  real  interest  and  useful  to  theological  students  for  the 
understanding  of  Bible  history  and  Bible  lands  and  the  domestic, 
social,  and  religious  life  of  the  Jews.  Also  a  judicious  selection 
of  Bible  plants  and  Bible  animals.  If  you  need  ;^300  or  ;^500 
more,  I  will  raise  the  money.  The  museum  must  be  completed 
no  matter  what  it  costs." 

Just  now  all  is  anxiety  and  alarm  about  the  great  war  between 
Russia  and  Turkey.  A  forced  contribution  of  money  about  one 
dollar  on  every  male  Moslem  over  fifteen  years  of  age  is  now 
being  levied. 

On  February  9th  I  rode  to  Zahleh,  through  great  drifts  of 
snow  from  ten  to  twenty  feet  deep  to  help  Mr,  Dale  in  dedicating 
the  new  church  at  Jedeetha.  It  was  built  by  funds  sent  by  the 
mission  school  of  the  Brick  Church  in  New  York. 

On  my  return  I  learned  that  General  Grant  was  hourly  ex- 
pected on  the  Vandalia  from  Jaffa.  He  intends  to  go  to  Baalbec 
and  Damascus,  but  it  has  been  snowing  for  forty-eight  hours  on 
the  heights  of  Lebanon,  and  I  doubt  whether  even  General  Grant 
can  "  fight  it  out  on  that  line." 

Fifteen  hundred  Circassians  have  arrived  in  Beirut  from  Con- 
stantinople. They  fled  from  the  Caucasus  to  Bulgaria,  and  were 
engaged  in  the  murderous  assaults  on  the  poor  Bulgarian  Chris- 
tians. They  are  here  en  route  for  Hauran  and  other  places  in 
the  interior.  They  are  like  walking  arsenals,  armed  with  knives, 
swords,  pistols,  and  guns.  One  of  them  drew  a  knife  on  a  young 
Greek  merchant  here  on  Thursday,  and  now  the  military  are  dis- 


End  of  Russo-Turkish  War  4^3 

arming  them.  They  are  lodged  in  mosques  and  khans  waiting 
for  the  Damascus  Road  to  be  opened.  Yesterday  I  saw  down- 
town a  half-bushel  of  silver  church  ornaments,  bracelets  and  so 
forth,  which  these  miscreants  had  stolen  from  the  Bulgarians, 
and  are  selling  to  the  Beirut  silversmiths  to  raise  ready  money. 
They  have  been  offering  their  girls  for  sale  in  one  of  the  mosques 
— a  new  business  for  Beirut.  We  only  hope  that  they  will  leave 
as  soon  as  possible,  lest  something  arouse  their  fierce  nature,  and 
serious  results  ensue. 

On  January  31st  the  Russo-Turkish  War  ended,  and  on  July 
13th  the  treaty  of  Berlin  was  signed  which  separated  from 
Turkey,  Roumani  Servia,  and  Montenegro,  ceded  the  most  of 
Turkish  Armenia  to  Russia  as  well  as  Batum,  and  made  Bulgaria 
a  Christian  principality.  Civil  rights  were  guaranteed  to  non-Mo- 
hammedans in  Turkey.  Austria  also  occupied  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina  and  England  June  4th  occupied  Cyprus,  en- 
gaging to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  Turkish  dominions  in 
Asia. 

Thousands  of  Circassians  driven  out  of  Bulgaria  were  brought  to 
Syria  and  established  flourishing  colonies  in  Northern  Syria  and 
in  Jaulan  east  of  the  Jordan. 

In  our  mission  field,  owing  to  the  death  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  the 
Abeih  Academy  has  been  discontinued,  as  the  college  prepara- 
tory department  was  expected  to  do  the  same  work  in  the  future. 
Dr.  W.  W.  Eddy  was  transferred  to  Beirut  for  the  theological 
class,  and  Rev.  Frank  Wood  was  transferred  from  Abeih  to 
Sidon,  but  before  he  removed  he  was  smitten  down  with  mortal 
disease. 

In  April  I  left  for  America  with  my  family  and  in  July  heard 
of  the  death  of  Mr.  F.  A.  Wood  of  the  Syria  Mission.  Mr.  Wood 
had  been  for  more  than  seven  years  in  Syria.  He  had  a  fine 
knowledge  of  the  Arabic  language,  was  a  man  of  superior  culture, 
an  enthusiastic  teacher,  of  fervent  piety,  and  great  zeal. 

Having  been  for  three  years  the  principal  of  Abeih  Academy, 
he  was  about  to  remove  to  Sidon,  as  the  training  work  done 
in  Abeih  is  hereafter  to  be  done  in  the  college  in  Beirut.     His 


454  A  Cholera  Year 

death  leaves  the  Sidon  field  in  the  sole  charge  of  young  Mr.  Eddy 
who  is  to  sail  for  Syria  August  31st.  Mr.  Wood  was  greatly  and 
deservedly  beloved.  The  missionaries  are  deeply  afflicted  in  his 
death.  The  native  church  will  lament  his  death  as  will  his  pupils 
and  friends  throughout  Syria.  Physically  athletic,  he  seemed 
likely  to  outlive  us  all.  His  widow  and  the  little  daughter  Lucy 
are  entitled  to  the  sympathies  and  prayers  of  God's  people. 

In  August  Mrs.  Calhoun,  who  had  returned  from  America,  was 
stationed  in  Deir  el  Komr  to  labour  among  the  women  and  girls^ 
Miss  Jackson  and  Mrs.  Wood  returned  to  America. 

I  sailed  with  my  family  April  i  ith  for  America.  The  morn- 
ing of  that  day  at  half-past  six  I  called  to  bid  good-bye  to  Mr. 
N.  Tubbajy,  that  dear  man  of  God  whom  I  loved  as  a  brother. 
He  had  been  confined  to  his  bed  for  weeks,  and  after  I  offered 
prayer  he  drew  me  down  and  kissed  me  and  wept.  I  was  much 
overcome.  He  was  one  of  the  purest,  truest  men  I  ever  knew 
and  loved,  and  before  I  returned  from  America  he  was  released 
from  his  sufferings.  He  was  the  prime  mover  in  the  erection  of 
the  "  Eastern  Chapel "  and  left  a  legacy  for  the  support  of  a 
school  in  connection  with  it. 

At  ten  o'clock  I  went  with  my  brother  Samuel  and  other 
friends  to  the  house  of  Mrs.  A.  Mentor  Mott,  where  1,500  school 
children  were  assembled  and  I  made  them  a  parting  address.  They, 
through  their  teachers,  presented  to  me  a  beautiful  Arabic  fare- 
well address.  That  sight  of  such  a  multitude  of  children  being 
taught  in  evangelical  mission  schools  was  stamped  upon  my 
memory  and  was  a  comfort  to  me  during  the  long  months  of 
my  absence. 

After  a  prosperous  trip  by  land  and  sea  we  reached  New 
York,  May  15th,  and  after  spending  one  night  at  my  mother's  in 
Montrose,  I  went  to  the  General  Assembly  in  Pittsburg,  where  I 
met  many  old  friends  and  was  entertained  by  Mr.  Robert  Hays 
in  Allegheny. 

At  Yale  commencement  I  was  the  guest  of  President  Woolsey 
?^nd  met  Professor  Salisbury,  Hon.  Peter  Parker,  and  S.  Wells 


Death  of  Elias  Fuaz  455 

Williams,  both  of  China.  In  June  we  also  attended  the  golden 
wedding  of  Hon.  Wm.  E.  Dodge  at  Tarrytown. 

In  July  I  attended  with  my  sons  William  and  Henry  the 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  city  of  Wilkesbarre,  and  at  a  recep- 
tion given  by  an  old  friend,  Mrs.  Charles  Parrish,  met  President 
R.  B.  Hayes,  Secretary  of  State  John  Sherman,  and  Governor 
Hartranft.  Seventy-five  thousand  people  listened  or  tried  to  listen 
to  the  speech  of  the  President.  My  brother  Samuel,  Dr.  Eddy,  and 
Dr.  Dennis  kept  me  informed  about  Syrian  affairs;  and  I  learned 
with  sorrow  of  the  death  of  Elias  Fuaz,  the  oldest  survivor  of  the 
First  Protestant  Church  in  Syria.  He  was  always  called  Abu 
Nasif  (father  of  Nasif)  although  he  had  no  children.  It  was  a 
title  of  respect.  So  when  at  about  the  age  of  sixty-five  he 
married  and  had  a  son,  he  was  obliged  to  call  him  Nasif.  Little 
Nasif  was  a  lovely  boy,  and  as  his  door  was  directly  across  a 
narrow  lane  from  my  door,  he  was  a  favourite  with  my  children. 
When  about  six  years  of  age  he  was  taken  with  severe  convul- 
sion and  after  a  few  days  of  struggle  died.  I  never  saw  a  more 
pathetic  sight  than  the  agony  of  that  aged  father  over  the  death 
struggles  of  his  only  child,  the  child  of  his  old  age.  He  hardly 
left  the  bedside  day  or  night  for  days  and  when  the  little  grave 
was  filled,  he  walked  daily  a  mile  to  the  cemetery  carrying 
flowers.  But  life  had  lost  its  charm  for  him  and  he  gradually 
declined  and  passed  away. 

During  the  summer  of  1878  Rev.  W.  K.  Eddy  visited  us  in 
Montrose,  and  some  weeks  later,  while  on  a  visit  to  Scranton  the 
First  and  Second  Churches  jointly  agreed  to  support  him,  a  son 
of  Dr.  Eddy,  as  their  missionary  to  Syria.  He  was  appointed 
and  assigned  to  Sidon  station,  where  his  knowledge  of  Arabic 
and  the  Arab  race  enabled  him  at  once  to  enter  full  upon  work 
as  a  missionary,  a  work  which  he  maintained  with  growing  use- 
fulness for  twenty-nine  years. 

One  day  in  June,  1878,  when  calling  at  the  old  mission  house, 
33  Centre  Street,  New  York,  Dr.  Ellin  wood  took  me  down  to 
the  dimly  lighted  cellar  where  the  luggage  of  incoming  and  out- 
going missionaries  was  stored,  and  where  young  missionaries  and 


45^  A  Cholera  Year 

their  wives  did  their  packing,  and  showed  me  two  massive  slabs 
of  wood  of  the  Cedars  of  Lebanon,  sent  to  him  by  Rev.  O.  J. 
Hardin  of  Tripoli,  Syria,  but  which  he  found  to  be  an  elephant 
on  his  hands.  No  one  would  buy  them  and  they  were  in  the 
way.  Would  I  take  them  and  dispose  of  them  ?  At  that  time 
in  Montrose,  Mr.  Chas.  Crandall,  inventor  of  the  famous  "  Build- 
ing Blocks,"  had  a  toy  factory  filled  with  the  most  beautiful 
modern  machinery,  run  by  steam,  planes,  saws,  dovetailing 
machines,  lathes,  and  polishing  sandpaper  wheels,  which  filled 
me  with  delight.  When  a  child  I  used  to  spend  hours  watching 
the  village  carpenters  and  wagon  makers,  but  this  elegant 
machinery  made  my  "  eyes  water."  We  were  kindly  allowed 
free  access  to  the  mysterious  shop  from  which  emanated  those 
curious  creations  of  Mr,  Crandall's  genius  which  delighted 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  children  all  over  the  world.  It 
struck  me  that  here  would  be  the  place  to  turn  those  cedar  logs 
to  account  for  the  benefit  of  the  Tripoli  Girls'  Boarding-School. 
Mr.  Crandall  entered  heartily  into  the  scheme  of  cutting  up  that 
precious  wood  into  table  tops,  paper  folders,  rulers,  cubes, 
barrels,  balls,  paper  weights,  and  so  forth.  So  the  large  slabs  six 
feet  by  two  feet  by  ten  inches  were  brought  to  Montrose.  A 
contract  was  made  with  Mr.  Crandall  with  minute  specifications 
as  to  the  style  and  finish  of  the  blocks,  and  the  work  began. 
The  cedar  wood  was  so  hard  that  the  sparks  flew  from  the  circu- 
lar saws,  and  some  of  the  saws  were  broken. 

The  wood  came  into  Mr.  Hardin's  possession  in  a  peculiar 
way.  No  one  is  allowed  to  cut  wood  from  that  ancient  cedar 
grove.  It  is  a  sacred  place  of  the  Maronites  and  is  under  the 
protection  of  the  Patriarch  of  Lebanon,  At  times  when  "  the 
voice  of  the  Lord  breaketh  the  cedars,  yea  the  Lord  breaketh  the 
Cedars  of  Lebanon  "  (Psalm  29 :  5)  and  the  lightning  rends  off 
huge  branches  from  the  trees,  specimens  of  the  wood  can  be  ob- 
tained. The  Grand  Duke  Maximilian  visited  Syria  in  the  '60s, 
went  to  the  Cedars  and  obtained  permission  from  the  patriarch 
to  take  several  large  slabs  of  wood,  A  Syrian  merchant  in  the 
Meena  of  Tripoli  took  the  job,  and  at  great  expense  took  native 


Selling  the  Cedar  Blocks  457 

sawyers  up  to  the  grove,  cut  out  these  huge  pieces,  and  transported 
them  on  camels  to  the  Meena  to  await  the  frigate  of  the  Austrian 
duke.  But  he  took  another  route  and  the  merchant  was  left 
with  the  lumber  on  his  hands.  The  Austrian  consul  did  not  pay 
the  expense  he  had  incurred  and  he  left  them  stored  in  a  ware- 
house near  the  port.  At  length,  after  years  of  waiting,  he 
offered  them  to  his  neighbour,  Mr.  Hardin,  who  bought  them  at 
a  moderate  figure  and  shipped  them  to  Dr.  EUinwood. 

They  were  from  the  old  traditional  cedar  grove  of  B'sherreh, 
southeast  of  Tripoli  and  about  6,000  feet  above  the  sea.  The 
trees  are  about  425  in  number  and  until  the  year  1862  it  was  sup- 
posed to  be  the  only  grove  in  Lebanon,  but  I  have  visited  no  less 
than  eleven  in  Northern  and  Southern  Lebanon,  those  at 
Hadeth  el  Jibbeh  and  Baruk  containing  thousands  of  trees,  and 
were  the  all-devouring  goats  who  eat  up  every  green  thing 
banished  from  Lebanon,  there  is  no  reason  why  Lebanon's 
heights  could  not  again  be  crowned  with  magnificent  forests  of 
these  splendid  evergreen  trees. 

The  grand  ducal  slabs  were  cut  from  a  branch  of  one  of  the 
oldest  trees  reckoned  by  Mr.  Calhoun  and  Dr.  Thomson  to  be  not 
less  than  three  thousand  years  old.  Ordinary  tools  made  no  im- 
pression on  the  wood,  and  but  for  the  kind  consent  of 
Mr.  Crandall  to  use  his  splendid  machinery  to  cut  it  up  and  polish 
it,  it  must  have  remained  as  an  heirloom  for  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions.  My  children  took  great  interest  in  the  scheme  of  sell- 
ing the  finished  blocks  and  fancy  articles.  Harry,  then  fourteen 
years  old,  was  made  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  cedar 
fund  for  the  Tripoli  school  buildings.  Advertisements  with  the 
descriptive  price  lists  were  sent  to  some  twenty  religious  journals, 
a  specimen  of  the  wood  being  sent  to  each  editor.  Soon  applica- 
tions with  postal  money  orders  or  cash  began  to  pour  into  the 
Montrose  post-ofifice,  and  the  outgoing-  mails  and  the  express 
offices  took  hundreds  of  carefully  wrapped  and  labelled  packages. 
At  the  final  summing  up,  after  paying  all  expenses,  the  sum  of 
about  six  hundred  dollars  was  sent  to  Dr.  EUinwood  for  the  Tripol* 
school.     It  seemed  fitting  that  the  money  should  go  to  aid  in 


458  A  Cholera  Year 

educating  girls  from  the  region  of  the  ancient  Cedars,  for  the 
river  of  Tripoli,  the  sacred  Kadisha,  springs  from  a  gushing  foun- 
tain a  little  way  from  the  old  cedar  grove. 

After  spending  July  and  August  in  visiting  various  churches,  I 
set  out  September  9th,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Women's  Boards 
of  Missions,  on  a  Western  campaign.  I  entered  upon  it  with  great 
enthusiasm.  It  was  a  rare  chance  to  see  the  West,  to  cross  the 
Mississippi  and  the  Missouri  Rivers,  to  see  Chicago,  and  to  meet 
with  thousands  of  good  Christian  people.  I  was  absent  forty-six 
days ;  made  forty-eight  addresses,  travelled  four  thousand  four 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  and  addressed  about  thirteen  thousand 
people.  After  spending  Sunday,  September  29th,  at  Dubuque 
with  Dr.  D.  J.  Burrell,  I  was  booked  for  the  University  of  Madi- 
son, Wisconsin,  Monday  evening.  All  Sunday  afternoon  and 
evening  the  rain  fell  in  torrents  and  on  Monday  morning,  on 
going  to  the  railroad  station  I  was  told  that  owing  to  a  "  wash- 
out "  no  train  could  reach  Madison  that  day.  As  I  was  expect- 
ing to  go  from  Madison  to  the  meeting  of  the  American  Board  in 
Milwaukee,  Dr.  Burrell  studied  out  a  route  up  the  Mississippi  by 
train  to  McGregor,  then  by  ferry  across  the  beautiful  emerald 
islands  to  Prairie  du  Chien,  where  I  remained  till  6  p.  m.  While  in 
Dubuque  Dr.  Burrell  took  me  to  a  galena  or  lead  mine  and  I  ob- 
tained a  ponderous  mass,  which  I  shipped  to  Syria  for  the  cabinet  of 
the  Syrian  Protestant  College.  In  Prairie  du  Chien  I  was  greatly 
interested  in  the  artesian  well  which  spouts  up  warm  sulphur  water 
twenty-five  feet  in  the  air  and  flows  through  the  streets.  Tak- 
ing a  sleeping  car  at  6  p.  m.,  I  reached  Milwaukee  in  the  morn- 
ing and  was  the  guest  of  Mr.  William  Allen  whose  kindness  has 
never  been  forgotten.  Meeting  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wm.  E.  Dodge  at 
the  Plankinton  House  in  the  afternoon,  we  drove  together  in  a 
downpour  of  rain  to  the  Immanuel  Church,  pastor  Dr.  G.  P. 
Nichols,  where  the  Board  was  holding  its  opening  sessions.  I  sat 
in  the  rear  of  the  church,  and  Mr.  Dodge,  vice-president  of  the 
Board,  went  to  the  platform.  After  a  little,  there  was  a  bustle 
among  the  officers  on  the  platform,  and  soon  Dr.  Clark  came  down 


The  Antique  Rug  459 

to  my  seat  and  said, "  Brother  Jessup,  we  are  in  a  sad  plight.  The 
annual  sermon  is  to  be  delivered  to-night  and  this  church  will  be 
crowded  but  we  have  no  preacher.  Rev.  Dr.  Manning  of  Boston 
who  was  appointed  telegraphed  from  Buffalo  that  he  has  been  taken 
ill  there  en  route  and  cannot  come.  What  shall  we  do  ?  Will 
you  fill  the  breach  ?  "  I  thought  for  a  moment  and  said, "  I  can- 
not fill  it,  but  I  can  stand  in  it  and  do  my  best,  but  it  will  not  be 
a  sermon."  "  All  right,"  said  Dr.  Clark,  and  I  made  haste  to 
my  room  at  Dr.  Allen's,  looked  over  my  notes,  got  my  thoughts 
in  order,  and  in  the  evening  spoke  ninety  minutes  to  a  most  at- 
tentive audience,  some  of  whom  wanted  me  to  "  go  on."  But  I 
thought  it  wiser  to  go  off,  for  it  is  better  that  the  people  wish  you 
were  longer  rather  than  wish  you  were  shorter.  Dr.  Clark  was 
effusive  in  his  thanks  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dodge  said,  *'  The  Lord 
sent  that '  washout '  on  the  railroad  in  order  to  bring  you  here." 
Dr.  Nichols,  the  beloved  pastor  of  that  church,  afterwards  re- 
moved to  the  First  Church  in  Binghamton  where  I  have  since 
been  brought  into  the  most  loving  and  intimate  relations  with 
him.     His  has  been  a  model  pastorate. 

In~  October  my  old  friend  and  pupil,  Rev.  Isaac  Riley,  died  in 
Buffalo.  He  was  a  man  of  rare  intellectual,  spiritual,  and  social 
gifts,  admired  and  beloved  by  all.  On  the  17th  of  November  a 
memorial  service  was  held  in  his  old  34th  Street  Church,  New 
York,  and  I  had  the  privilege  of  adding  my  testimony  to  that  of  Drs. 
Martyn,  Chambers,  Hutton  and  Schaff  to  his  worth  and  the  loss 
to  the  Church  and  the  world  in  his  death.  He  did  me  a  great 
favour  in  acting  as  co-editor  in  1873  with  Dr.  Chas.  S.  Robinson 
of  my  little  books,  the  "  Women  of  the  Arabs,"  and  "  Syrian 
Home  Life." 

I  was  a  guest  at  the  house  of  my  wife's  uncle,  Hon.  Wm.  E. 
Dodge,  just  before  the  Christmas  holidays.  One  morning  Mr. 
Dodge'asked  me  to  go  with  him  to  the  store  of  Johnston  and  Co., 
carpet  dealers,  and  aid  him  in  selecting  an  Oriental  rug  as  a 
Christmas  gift  to  Mrs.  Dodge.  One  of  the  salesmen  was  very 
polite  and  soon  brought  a  rug  which  he  told  Mr.  Dodge  was  very 


460  A  Cholera  Year 

rare,  being  six  hundred  years  old ;  and  that  the  date  was  woven 
into  it  in  the  Oriental  language !  I  examined  it  and  found  the 
date  in  Arabic  characters,  1281  of  the  Hegira,  corresponding  to 
the  year  1865  a.  d.  !  I  informed  Mr.  Dodge  and  then  told  the 
salesman  the  facts  in  the  case  and  that  the  rug  was  just  fourteen 
years  old.  He  looked  at  me  with  undisguised  disgust  and  did  not 
sell  that  rug  to  Mr.  Dodge  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  It 
was  worth  about  fifteen.  The  salesman  had  evidently  been  taken 
in  by  his  purchasing  agent  in  the  East. 

In  December  I  preached  one  Sunday  morning  in  a  Brooklyn 
church  in  the  absence  of  the  pastor.  After  the  service  the  pastor's 
wife  asked  me  to  dinner.     On  reaching  the  house  she  remarked, 

"  I  am  so  glad  that  my  son was  not  here  this  morning. 

You  certainly  would  have  made  a  missionary  of  him  !  "  I  said, 
'•  My  dear  friend,  who  then  can  be  a  missionary  ?  Somebody's 
son  must  go.  Are  only  orphan  children  bidden  to  go  and  preach 
the  Gospel  ?  "  She  said,  "  I  know  some  mother's  sons  must  go, 
but  I  could  never  bear  it."  I  did  not  press  the  question,  and  never 
met  that  young  man  until  after  he  had  been  moderator  of  the 
General  Assembly,  and  then  it  was  quite  too  late  to  ask  him  to 
go.  He  was  entangled  in  too  many  lines,  lines  he  had  cast  and 
lines  he  had  written,  to  admit  the  possibility  of  his  becoming  a 
student  volunteer. 

1879 — In  the  year  1879  the  Syria  Mission  was  reinforced  by 
the  arrival  of  five  labourers,  and  my  own  return.  The  new 
labourers  were  Rev.  Chas.  Wm.  Calhoun,  M.  D.,  and  his  sister, 
Miss  Susan  S.  Calhoun,  both  for  TripoH,  and  Miss  Cundall  for  the 
Tripoh  Girls'  School ;  also  Rev,  W.  F.  Johnston  and  his  wife  who 
were  stationed  with  Mr.  Eddy  in  Sidon,  Mr.  Johnston  found  the 
climate  unfavourable  and  was  only  able  to  remain  about  six 
months. 

Miss  Jackson  and  Miss  Emily  Bird  returned  to  Syria  with  me 
November  25th.* 

^  Miss  Bird  has  never  found  it  convenient  to  take  a  furlough,  and 
now  (1909)  has  been  thirty  years  continuously  on  the  field. 


Friends  in  England  461 

Early  in  the  year,  April  i6th,  Rev.  Gerald  F.  Dale,  Jr.,  was 
married  to  Miss  Mary  Bliss  in  Beirut,  and  for  seven  and  a  half 
years  their  home  and  personal  influence  were  a  power  for  good 
in  Zahleh  and  the  Bookaa. 

In  the  month  of  May,  1879,  before  my  return  I  was  elected 
moderator  of  the  General  Assembly  in  Saratoga. 

In  October  and  November,  1879,  I  visited  England,  Scotland, 
and  Ireland  with  Rev.  Gavin  Carlyle,  in  the  interest  of  the  Turk- 
ish Mission's  Aid  Society,  made  various  addresses  and  met  many 
great  and  good  men  with  whose  names  I  had  long  been  familiar; 
Lord  Shaftesbury,  Sir  William  Muir,  with  whom  I  kept  up  corre- 
spondence to  the  time  of  his  death  in  1905,  the  Bishop  of  Meath, 
Lord  Plunkett,  Drs.  Johnstone,  Fleming  Stevenson,  Rainey,  the 
Bonars,  Dr.  Andrew  Thomson,  Dr.  N.  McCleod,  T.  Matheson 
Rev.  Dr.  McFadyen,  Dr.  Robson  (formerly  of  Damascus),  Dr. 
Knox,  Lord  Polworth,  Mr.  Geo.  D.  Cullen,  Drs.  Cairns,  Davidson, 
McCrie,  J.  Robertson,  Dr.  Blackie,  Lord  Balfour,  Dr.  Kalley, 
Thos.  Nelson,  Dr.  Lindsay  Alexander,  and  many  others.  In 
going  to  Dundee  in  November  with  Rev.  Gavin  Carlyle,  we 
passed  over  that  slender,  lofty,  dizzy,  iron  bridge  two  miles  long 
over  the  Tay.  On  January  8th  we  received  word  in  Beirut  that 
the  Tay  bridge  had  toppled  over  and  fallen  with  a  railroad  train 
which  disappeared  beneath  the  deep  waters. 

In  1879  certain  Arabic  inscriptions^  were  sent  to  me  by  Prof. 
S.  Wells  Williams,  the  well-known  Chinese  scholar  and  mission- 
ary, now  Professor  of  Chinese  in  Yale  College. 

The  letter  of  Dr.  Williams  enclosing  them  is  as  follows : 
"  I  have  obtained  a  '  rubbing '  of  an  inscription  on  an  incense 
pot  of  fine  bronze,  which  I  enclose  to  you  in  the  hope  that  you 
can  send  to  me  a  translation  of  it.  The  piece  was  obtained  from 
a  mosque  in  Peking,  but  I  suppose  the  work  was  done  in  North- 
western China.  This  one  has  no  date  upon  it,  but  I  have  one 
much  like  it  that  was  made  in  1506,  and  I  think  this  piece  is  as 

^The  plates  of  these  inscriptions  were  in  ihe  Foreign  Missionary  Mag- 
azine,  April,  1879,  and  can  be  obtained  at  156  Fifth  Avenue  in  the  library. 


462  A  Cholera  Year 

old  as  that.     The  Moslems  in  China  are  accustomed  to  burn  in- 
cense on  the  tables  in  their  mosques  much  the  same  as  the  Bud- 
dhists do  in  their  temples.     The  inscription  I  send  you  is  ten 
times  as  long  as  any  of  the  others  I  have  ever  seen,  and  I  rather 
think  the  top  and  bottom  may  be  a  quotation  from  the  Koran. 
You  will  be  able  to  tell  me.     The  use  of  Arabic  in  China  is  very 
\  limited,  few  besides  the  Mullahs  or  Hajjis  ever  learning  to  read, 
I  and  they  do  not  try  to  speak  it  to  any  extent.     The  monosyllabic 
'  words  in  Chinese  contract  the  organs  of  speech  as  a  person  grows 
old  so  that  he  is  unable  to  pronounce  words  with  many  consonants 
coming  together,  or  end  a  word  in  a  dental.     Words  like  thought, 
-  strength,  contempt,  are  unpronounceable  by  a  full-grown  person 
f  and  the  gutturals  in  Arabic  are  as  much  beyond  the  vocal  organs 
of  most  Chinese  as  the  carols  of  a  canary.     Perhaps  this  inability 
and  difficulty  have  had  something  to  do  with  the  little  progress 
made  by  Islamism  in  China." 

I  found,  as  Dr.  Williams  supposed,  that  all  of  the  extracts  were 
from  the  Koran,  and  in  the  Arabic  language. 

The  great  interest  of  these  inscriptions  arises  from  their  being 
in  the  Arabic  language,  the  sacred  language  of  the  Koran,  and 
thus  an  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Mohammedan 
religion  has  carried  the  Koran  throughout  Asia  and  Northern 
Africa,  and  the  Koran  has  carried  the  Arabic  language. 

The  Koran  is  claimed  by  the  Moslems  to  have  been  written  in 
i  heaven  by  the  finger  of  God  Himself,  and  given  to  Mohammed 
!  by  the  Angel  Gabriel.  The  inspiration  is  literal  and  verbal,  and 
consists  in  the  Arabic  words,  letters,  and  vowel  points.  The  or- 
thodox regard  it  as  a  sin  to  translate  the  Koran.  Where  it  has 
been  translated  or  paraphrased,  as  in  the  Persian,  Urdu,  and  Ma- 
layan, it  must  be  accompanied  by  an  interhneation  of  the  original 
Arabic. 

The  Emir  Abd-er  Rahman  of  Atcheen,  in  the  island  of  Suma- 
tra, lately  exiled  by  the  Dutch  government  to  Mecca  on  a  pension 
of  ^1,000  a  month,  is  an  Arab  Mohammedan  of  Hadramout,  and 
the  Moslems  of  Sumatra  use  the  Arabic  language. 

The  Mohammedans  of  India,  numbering  some  35,000,000,  read 


Koran  and  Bible  463 

their  Koran  in  Arabic  and  the  Urdu  language  is  largely  made  up 
of  Arabic  words.  The  Afgans,  Beloochs,  Persians,  Tartars,  Turks, 
Kurds,  Circassians,  Bosnians,  Albanians,  Rumelians,  Yezbeks, 
Arabs,  Egyptians,  Tunisians,  Algerines,  Zanzibarians,  Moors,  Ber- 
bers, Mandingoes,  and  other  Asiatic  and  African  tribes  read  their 
Koran,  if  at  all,  in  the  Arabic  language. 

If  we  connect  this  fact  with  another,  viz.,  the  profound  regard 
of  the  Moslems  for  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  we  see  the 
present  and  prospective  importance  of  the  Arabic  translation  of 
the  Scriptures. 

A  Mohammedan  tradition  says,  "  That  in  the  latter  day  faith  j 
will  decay,  a  cold  odoriferous  wind  will  blow  from  Syria,  which 
shall  sweep  away  the  souls   of  the  faithful  and  the  Koran  it- 
self." 

It  may  be  that  the  wind  is  already  blowing  from  the  steam 
printing-presses  in  Beirut,  which  are  sending  the  Arabic  Scrip- 
tures all  over  the  Mohammedan  world. 

After  the  hurried  visit  to  Scotland  we  left  England  for  Syria 
via  Marseilles  and  reached  home  November  25th,  a  glad  occasion 
for  me,  and  I  entered  upon  my  preaching  and  theological  teach- 
ing at  once.  The  unsettled  feeling  of  eighteen  months'  travelling 
soon  vanished  in  the  quiet  and  order  of  home.  During  all  this 
absence  and  travelling  thousands  of  miles  I  had  not  met  with  an 
accident  and  hardly  a  detention.  Our  missionary  brethren  and 
sisters  and  our  Syrian  brethren  and  sisters  gave  us  a  hearty  and 
loving  welcome. 

With  Drs.  Dennis  and  Eddy,  and  occasional  lessons  from  Dr. 
Van  Dyck,  our  theological  faculty  was  fully  organized.  All  the 
boarding  and  day-schools  were  prospering  as  never  before  and 
the  country  had  not  as  yet  begun  to  be  depleted  by  the  passion 
for  emigration. 

One  of  the  missionaries,  Rev.  O.  J.  Hardin,  remarked  that  "  in 
1876,  the  time  of  the  Centennial  Exposition,  the  Syrian  discovered 
America."  He  did,  and  he  has  since  discovered  and  done  his 
best  to  populate  Brazil  and  Mexico,  every  one  of  the  United 


464  A  Cholera  Year 

States  and  territories,  the  Pacific  Islands,  Singapore,  Australia, 
New  Zealand,  and  the  Transvaal. 

This  passion  for  emigration  is  the  modern  awakening  of  the 
old  Phoenician  migrative  spirit,  after  a  Rip  Van  Winkle  sleep 
of  more  than  2,500  years.  In  the  olden  time  the  mariners  of 
Phoenicia,  of  Sidon  and  Tyre,  Gebail  and  Arvad,  braved  the 
perils  of  unknown  seas,  penetrated  the  Black  Sea,  the  Atlantic, 
and  the  coasts  of  Spain,  and  even  circumnavigated  Africa  and  in 
all  probability  founded  the  ancient  civilization  of  Central  America, 

Christianity  was  borne  westward  on  this  Phoenician  wave. 
Then  came  a  pause,  and  the  centuries  of  stagnation  and  impo- 
tence, until  the  West  came  to  the  East,  bringing  new  life  and 
kindled  again  the  old  restless  spirit  of  adventure  and  fortune- 
hunting,  until  now  about  one-twentieth  of  the  entire  population 
of  Syria  has  emigrated  to  foreign  lands. 

This  has  depleted  the  towns  and  villages  of  the  brain  and 
brawn  of  the  land,  weakened  the  little  churches,  carried  off  the 
graduates  of  the  college  and  the  boarding-schools,  raised  the 
price  of  labour  and  made  it  difficult  in  many  places  to  find  a 
labourer  to  do  a  day's  work.  Formerly  a  day-labourer  earned 
twenty  cents  a  day.  Now  he  demands  forty  to  fifty  cents  and 
gets  it.  Hundreds  of  emigrants  have  returned  bringing  large 
sums  of  money  and  have  built  fine  modern  houses,  paved  with 
marble  and  roofed  with  French  tiles.  And  they  want  to  have 
their  children  educated  in  American  schools.  Their  old  bigotry 
is  gone.  They  refuse  to  be  dictated  to  by  priests  and  monks. 
Many  are  truly  benefited  by  the  change.  One-third  of  the  emi- 
grants die,  one-third  remain  abroad,  and  one-third  return.  But 
many  of  those  who  return  are  demoralized  by  European  vices 
and  go  to  their  old  homes  to  die. 

Time  only  can  solve  the  question  as  to  whether  emigration  will 
prove  a  blessing  or  a  curse  to  Syria.  The  best  men,  those  who 
achieve  success  in  America  and  Australia,  generally  remain 
abroad  and  never  intend  to  return  to  Syria,  thus  entailing  on 
their  native  land  a  severe  material  and  moral  loss. 

One  of  our  severest  trials  is  to  see  educated  young  Syrians, 


o  ^ 

<  S 

1—3  <u 

>  ^^ 

z  > 

o  ^ 

H  ^ 

J  o 


Death  of  James  Black  465 

after  a  full  theological  course,  dropping  their  work  and  going  to 
foreign  lands  to  make  money  easily.  This  seems  inevitable  and 
some  day  the  unfolding  of  the  divine  providential  plan  with  re- 
gard to  this  land  may  show  us  the  reason  why  so  many  of  Syria's 
choicest  sons  and  daughters  have  been  driven  away  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth. 

About  one  month  after  our  return  from  America  (December 
28th)  the  whole  city  of  Beirut  was  in  mourning  for  Mr.  James 
Black,  the  English  Christian  merchant  who  for  forty-four  years 
had  held  aloft  the  standard  of  commercial  integrity  and  a  godly 
life.  He  founded  the  Commercial  Court  of  Beirut  and  was  its 
president  for  years.  His  word  was  regarded  as  being  as  good  as 
his  bond.  He  was  a  churchgoing,  temperate,  consistent  Chris- 
tian man,  and  being  connected  by  marriage  with  the  family  of 
Dr.  Thomson,  was  in  warmest  sympathy  with  the  missionary  work. 

More  potent  than  the  sermons  or  the  tracts  of  missionaries  has 
been  the  silent  influence  of  men  like  Mr.  Black,  who  in  the  temp- 
tations of  trade,  the  crookedness,  duplicity,  and  corruptness  of 
Oriental  merchants  and  officials,  have  maintained  their  integrity 
untarnished  until  the  highest  and  most  sacred  oath  a  Moslem  can 
swear,  even  above  the  oath  by  the  beard  of  the  Prophet,  is  by 
the  word  of  an  Englishman.  The  Beirut  merchants  to  this  day 
(1909)  speak  with  wonder  of  Mr.  Black's  having  "  sworn  to  his 
own  hurt  and  changed  not." 

All  honour  to  such  pure-minded  and  upright  foreigners  who 
have  thus  taught  corrupt  and  immoral  men  that  there  are  men 
who  will  stand  by  their  word  even  to  their  own  loss  and  whose 
word  becomes  the  synonym  of  truth,  integrity  and  purity ! 

I  once  stood  before  a  Moslem  shop  in  the  ancient  city  of 
Hamath  and  overheard  a  Mohammedan  near  by,  emphasizing 
his  word  by  the  most  solemn  oath  he  could  command,  and  he 
finally  clinched  his  assertions  by  swearing  "  on  the  word  of  Mr. 
Black,  the  Englishman  in  Beirut." 

The  winter  was  severe  and  in  Kesrawan,  February  12,  1880, 
a  priest  was  overtaken  in  a  storm  by  wolves  and  devoured. 


466  A  Cholera  Year 

Handbills  were  posted  on  all  the  churches,  mosques,  and  syna- 
gogues stating  that  an  election  was  to  take  place  for  members  of 
the  municipality. 

The  votes  posted  were : 

Christians  of  all  sects 820 

Moslems    <«   «     « 440 

1,260 
Property  owners  eligible  to  office : 

Christians 461 

Moslems 263 

724 

This  indicates  that  the  Oriental  Christian  sects,  Greeks,  Catho*^ 
lies,  Maronites,  and  Protestants  are  about  double  the  Moslem 
population  in  number.  This  would  appear  to  give  the  Christians 
the  control,  but  the  Turkish  Waly  of  the  province  is  ex-officio 
president  of  the  municipality  and  has  absolute  control  of  its  funds. 
It  often  happens  that  by  orders  from  Constantinople,  the  entire 
fund,  amounting  to  thousands  of  dollars  collected  by  taxation  for 
street  repairs  and  salaries,  will  be  taken  from  the  treasury  and 
sent  off  to  Constantinople. 


XXI 

Helps  and  Hindrances 

Mile-stones  of  progress — Gerald  F.  Dale,  Jr.,  Memorial  Sunday- 
School  Hall — Missionaries'  sons — Bereavement — Another  furlough. 

THE  history  of  the  Dale  Memorial  Sunday-School  Hall 
in  Beirut  is  a  beautiful  illustration  of  the  working  of 
the  divine  Providence  to  secure  a  blessing  to  the  chil- 
dren of  Syria. 

Rev.  Gerald  F.  Dale,  Jr.,  had  been  for  seven  years  an  honoured 
and  beloved  missionary  in  Zahleh,  Syria,  when  I  went  to 
America  in  1878.  Gerald  was  a  family  name  in  the  Dale  family 
of  Philadelphia.  His  brother  Henry  in  New  York,  and  his  wife, 
Dora  Stokes,  named  their  first-born  and  only  son  for  the  brother 
in  Syria  and  the  father  in  Philadelphia,  Gerald  F.  Dale,  Jr. 

In  July,  1878,  I  spent  a  Sunday  in  Orange,  N.  J.,  and  was  the 
guest  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  Dale  on  Orange  Mountain.  On 
Sabbath  p.  m.,  July  20th,  their  little  son  Gerald  came  running  to 
me  and  sat  on  my  knee,  and  I  told  him  about  his  uncle  in  Syria. 
He  looked  up  in  my  face  and  asked,  "Are  you  a  minister?" 
"  Yes,"  said  I.  "  That's  right,"  said  he.  "  My  Uncle  Gerald  is  a 
minister.  My  father  ought  to  be  a  minister.  Every  man  ought 
to  be  a  minister.  I  am  going  to  be  Rev.  Dr.  Dale  and  be  a 
minister."  Scarcely  four  years  old,  he  was  devoted  to  the  Sun- 
day-school and  went  Sunday  afternoon  with  his  nurse  to  the 
little  chapel  on  the  mountain  in  the  rear  of  the  premises  near 
the  present  residence  of  Mrs.  John  Crosby  Brown,  to  attend  the 
Sunday-school.  He  was  a  beautiful  boy  and  completely  won  my 
heart. 

Seven  months  after,  in  February,  1879, 1  saw  in  a  New  York 

467 


468  Helps  and  Hindrances 

morning  paper,  "  Died  of  scarlet  fever  Gerald  F.  Dale,  Jr.,  aged 
four  years."  The  anguish  of  those  doting  parents  can  only  be 
known  by  those  who  have  drunk  the  same  bitter  cup. 

A  fortnight  later  they  invited  me  to  call,  and  told  me  they 
had  heard  of  our  need  of  a  Sunday-school  hall  in  Beirut  and 
they  would  like  to  give  the  ;^2,500,  which  had  been  set  apart  for 
Gerald,  to  build  such  a  hall  as  his  memorial.  We  began  at  once 
to  make  plans  and  I  visited  Philadelphia  with  him  to  see  the 
Bethany  Sunday-school  and  other  buildings. 

On  reaching  Beirut  in  November,  1879,  we  began  the  work  of 
construction.  I  was  greatly  aided  by  Mr.  Charles  Smith,  a  British 
merchant  and  a  fine  architect,  and  also  by  Mr.  Jules  Loytved 
then  connected  with  the  British  Syrian  Schools.  The  corner- 
stone was  laid  February,  1880.  The  roof  is  supported  by  six 
stone  arches  and  slender  graceful  columns  and  the  class  rooms  on 
the  two  sides  are  separated  by  sliding  glass  doors.  Within,  it  is 
bright  and  cheerful.  Dr.  Thain  Davidson  of  London  pronounced 
it  the  most  beautiful  Sunday-school  hall  he  had  ever  seen.  On 
December  19,  1880,  the  Memorial  Hall  was  dedicated.  More 
than  1,200  children  and  adults  were  present  at  the  dedication 
and  many  were  unable  to  obtain  admission.  Eight  different 
Sunday-schools  were  represented  and  addresses  were  made  by 
Rev.  Gerald  F.  Dale,  Jr.,  uncle  of  the  little  boy,  Rev.  Dr.  W.  W. 
Eddy  and  myself.  Tears  fell  from  many  eyes  when  I  told  them 
the  story  of  little  Gerald's  faith  and  his  desire  to  be  a  minister. 
The  singing  and  responsive  reading  of  the  Scriptures  were  not 
the  least  interesting  part  of  the  services.  One  of  the  German 
Lutheran  deaconesses  brought  twenty  of  her  orphan  pupils  who 
sang  a  German  hymn  very  sweetly.  The  Anglo-American  Sun- 
day-school of  English  and  American  children  came  in  force  and 
sang  "  Whiter  than  snow."  Miss  Jessie  Taylor's  Moslem  girls 
were  present  with  their  snow-white  veils  and  the  Syrian  Sunday- 
school  children  numbered  nearly  900.  The  Sunday-schools  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  prepare  a  letter  of  thanks  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Henry  Dale.  A  marble  tablet  over  the  door  bears  the  in- 
scription 


Missionaries'  Sons  and  Daughters  469 

"  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  Me!' 

Memorial  Sunday- School  Hall. 

A  memorial  of 

Gerald  F.  Dale,  Jr. 

Born  August  i,  18 j^. 

Died  February  20, 18  yg,  aged  three  and  a  half  years. 

Erected  by  his  parents  Henry  Dale  and  Dora  Stokes  Dale 

his  wife.     1880. 

In  January,  1881,  another  missionary's  son,  Rev.  George  A. 
Ford,  joined  the  Sidon  station  of  the  mission,  after  an  absence 
of  sixteen  years  in  America,  studying  and  acting  as  pastor  of  the 
church  at  Ramapo.  Up  to  the  present  time  (1906)  six  sons  of 
Syria  missionaries  have  entered  on  the  work  of  the  Presbyterian 
Mission  work  in  Syria.  These  are  :  Rev.  Wm.  Bird,  Rev.  W.  K. 
Eddy,  Rev.  C.  Wm.  Calhoun,  M.  D.,  Rev.  Geo.  A.  Ford,  D.  D., 
Rev.  Wm.  Jessup,  D.  D.,  and  Prof.  Stuart  D.  Jessup;  while  Rev. 
Howard  S.  Bliss,  D.  D.,  is  president  of  the  Syrian  Protestant 
College.  Their  knowledge  of  Arabic  and  acquaintance  with  the 
Syrian  people  have  made  their  labours  most  acceptable  and  effect- 
ive for  good.^ 

Thirteen  daughters  of  the  mission  have  returned  to  work  in 
Syria  after  completing  their  studies  in  America  :  Emily  Calhoun 
Danforth,  Emilia  Thomson,  Harriette  M.  Eddy  (Hoskins),  Mary 
Lyons,  Mary  Bliss  (Dale),  Emily  Bird,  Susan  H.  Calhoun  (Ran- 
som), Sarah  Ford,  Alice  Bird  (Greenlee),  Mary  P.  Eddy,  M.  D., 
Fanny  M.  Jessup  (Swain),  Amy  C.  Jessup  (Erdman),  Elsie 
Harris,  M.  D.  Six  of  these  continue  now  in  the  work,  three 
have  died,  and  four  have  left  Syria.  Other  missionary  daughters 
living  in  Syria,  not  under  official  appointment,  have  rendered 
services  as  teachers  in  the  mission  schools :  Misses  Lizzie  Van 
Dyck,  Anna  H.  Jessup,  Carrie  Hardin  (Post),  and  especially  Miss 
Effie  S.  Hardin,  who  for  years  has  given  her  efficient  help  in  the 
boys'  school  in  Suk  el  Gharb. 

^  Other  sons  of  Syria  missionaries  are  missionaries  in  other  countries ; 
Mr.  Edward  Ford  in  West  Africa,  Rev.  Frederick  N.  Jessup  in  Tabriz, 
Persia,  Bertram  Post,  M.  D.,  in  Robert  College,  Constantinople,  Wilfred 
Post,  M.  D.,  in  Turkey,  Arthur  March  in  China. 


470  Helps  and  Hindrances 

The  year  1881  was  marked  by  the  visit  of  scores  of  eminent 
men  in  the  Church  in  America  and  England,  many  of  whom  oc- 
cupied the  pulpit  of  the  Anglo-American  Congregation  on  Sun- 
day. Among  them  were  Dr.  A.  Erdman,  Dr.  Theodore  Cuyler, 
and  Canon  H.  B.  Tristram.  Dr.  Dennis  returned  in  December 
from  a  six  months'  health  trip  to  America.  The  theological 
class  was  continued  through  the  academic  year. 

In  January,  1882,  Mrs.  Ford,  mother  of  Rev.  Geo.  A.  Ford, 
having  returned  from  America,  was  stationed,  as  was  Miss  Bessie 
M.  Nelson  (daughter  of  Dr.  Henry  A.  Nelson)  in  Sidon,  and  the 
Sidon  Girls'  Seminary  was  carried  on  by  Misses  Eddy  and 
Nelson. 

In  April  a  theological  seminary  building  was  begun  on  the 
college  campus  through  the  generous  aid  of  Mr.  A.  L.  Dennis  of 
Newark,  N.  J.,  the  ground  having  been  given  to  the  Board  of 
Missions  by  the  college  trustees.  The  building  was  dedicated 
December  18,  1883,  and  continued  to  be  occupied  by  the  mission 
theological  seminary  for  ten  years,  when  it  was  sold  to  the 
college,  and  named  Morris  K.  Jesup  Hall.  The  theological 
class  was  transferred  as  a  summer  school  to  Suk  el  Gharb,  Mount 
Lebanon,  where  it  continued  until  1905,  when  it  was  reopened 
in  Beirut  on  the  new  mission  premises  adjoining  Dale  Memorial 
Hall. 

In  December  the  mission  voted  to  organize  three  presbyteries, 
in  Sidon,  Tripoli,  and  Lebanon  with  Beirut.  These  three  presby- 
teries have  proved  a  success,  but  they  have  no  organic  connec- 
tion with  the  General  Assembly  in  America.  When  the  time 
comes,  there  may  be  a  General  Assembly  in  Syria  and  Egypt. 
After  twenty-four  years  of  experience  the  Syrian  pastors  and 
elders  have  proved  themselves  competent  to  transact  business 
and  to  stimulate  each  other  in  the  matter  of  self-support. 

In  the  spring  of  this  year  the  Lord's  hand  was  heavy  upon  our 
household.  The  season  was  cold  and  stormy.  Three  of  the 
children  had  been  ill  for  some  weeks  with  influenza  and  fever  and 
their  mother  was  ceaseless  in  her  watch  over  them  and  was  soon 
attacked  with  the  same  malady.     On  the  evening  of  March  19th, 


Bereavement  471 

Mr.  George  Muller,  of  Bristol,  who  had  made  several  addresses 
to  old  and  young  in  our  Beirut  church,  held  a  meeting  at  the 
house  of  Mrs.  A.  Mentor  Mott.  I  attended  it  and  came  home 
at  9  P.  M.,  to  find  the  dear  one  suffering  from  inflammation  of 
the  throat.  She  soon  got  relief  but  it  developed  into  pleurisy 
and  after  apparent  recovery,  she  suddenly  suffered  collapse  on 
the  evening  of  April  5th,  and  passed  away  so  quickly  that  her 
sister,  Mrs.  Hardin,  our  guest,  could  hardly  reach  her  bedside 
before  she  was  gone. 

The  shock  was  like  paralysis  to  me.  Friends  were  never  more 
loving,  sympathetic,  and  kind.  The  five  younger  children,  the 
oldest  only  twelve,  were  like  little  angels  around  me.  Dear 
Dr.  Eddy,  my  colleague,  took  the  little  ones  to  his  house  and 
was  like  a  brother.  My  little  son  Stuart  spoke  such  words  of 
comfort  to  me  that  I  seemed  uplifted  and  sustained.  One  day 
he  said,  "  Perhaps  we  loved  mamma  too  much  and  idolized  her." 
Brother  Samuel  and  Mr.  Hardin  came  down  from  Tripoli. 

On  the  25th  a  missionary  conference  of  eighty  missionaries 
and  native  helpers  was  held  in  the  Memorial  Hall,  and  being 
asked  to  preside  my  thoughts  were  fully  occupied  for  a  week. 
Meantime  four  of  the  children  had  measles,  requiring  careful 
nursing,  but  all  made  a  speedy  recovery. 

The  members  of  the  mission  advised  my  going  at  once  to 
America,  and  after  much  prayer  and  consultation,  I  reluctantly 
decided  to  go  ;  and  after  many  sad  parting  scenes  and  strenuous 
labours  in  handing  over  my  work  of  editing,  proof-reading,  and 
teaching,  and  preaching  to  Drs.  Eddy  and  Van  Dyck,  we  sailed 
June  15th  for  Marseilles. 

Before  our  departure,  a  missionary  meeting  was  held  in  Beirut 
at  which  Rev.  Gerald  F.  Dale,  Jr.,  was  present.  Mr.  Dale  had  at 
his  disposal  a  fund  of  ^10,000  which  he  offered  to  the  Syrian 
Protestant  College  as  a  scholarship  fund  on  condition  that  ^20,000 
additional  be  raised.  I  was  requested  by  the  college  to  raise 
that  sum  and  I  did  it  while  in  America. 

Rumours  had  reached  Syria  of  the  Arabi  Pasha  Rebellion  in 
Egypt,  and  on  our  arrival  in  Port  Said  on  the  17th  we  had  start- 


47  2  Helps  and  Hindrances 

ling  evidence  of  its  reality.  An  Austrian  steamer  was  in  port  en 
route  from  Alexandria  to  Beirut  with  2,200  refugees  going  to 
Syria  for  safety.  The  decks  were  so  thickly  packed  that  men 
could  scarcely  lie  down.  Three  infants  had  been  born  in  the 
night.  The  captain  said  to  a  man  who  called  to  him  from  a  shore 
boat,  "  The  Lord  deliver  us  from  fire."  I  heard  afterwards  that 
they  reached  Beirut  in  safety,  where  both  Moslems  and  Chris- 
tians united  in  providing  food  and  lodging  for  them. 

We  reached  Alexandria  Sunday  a.  m.,  June  i8th.  The  ships 
and  steamers  in  the  harbour  were  literally  black  with  crowds  of 
refugees  ;  and  lines  of  boats  filled  the  port,  carrying  men,  women, 
and  children,  pale  with  fright,  to  the  sailing  craft  of  every  de- 
scription. Six  overloaded  steamers  left  for  Greece,  Naples, 
Malta,  and  Marseilles.  Three  thousand  Maltese  had  already 
gone  to  Malta.  The  panic  was  universal.  Last  Sunday,  July 
nth,  was  Black  Sunday.  Forty  Europeans  and  150  native  Chris- 
tians were  killed  by  the  Moslem  mob  in  Alexandria.  Admiral 
Seymour  of  the  British  fleet  came  on  board  our  steamer  to  see 
our  travelling  companion,  Mr.  Berkeley,  M.  P.,  and  told  us  of  his 
narrow  escape  on  Sunday.  He  was  on  shore  with  the  French 
admiral  paying  calls.  Suddenly  the  driver  of  their  carriage 
stopped,  jumped  down,  and  ran  back.  A  furious  mob  was  rush- 
ing down  the  street  with  guns  and  clubs,  killing  every  Christian. 
The  consular  janizary  who  was  with  them  told  them  to  get  out 
and  run  for  their  lives,  and  down  they  went,  the  two  admirals, 
double  quick,  and  were  just  able  to  enter  the  iron  gate  of  the 
port  office  and  close  the  door,  when  the  howling  mob  arrived. 
The  port  officer  called  a  boat  and  off  they  went,  glad  to  reach 
their  floating  castles  alive.  The  riot  was  a  general  conspiracy 
and  broke  out  in  several  places  at  once.  All  the  American 
missionaries  from  Cairo,  Assioot,  and  other  places  were  on  board 
the  American  frigate  Galena,  Captain  Bachelor,  where  I  went 
with  my  son  Stuart  to  see  them.  They  were  awaiting  passage 
to  Malta  and  America.  Seven  trains  a  day  were  bringing  down 
refugees  from  Cairo  and  Upper  Egypt.  Egypt  was  in  a  reign  of 
terror. 


Arabi  Pasha 


473 


Arabi  Pasha  was  in  command  in  Cairo,  and  his  troops  held 
the  forts  south  of  Alexandria  harbour.  The  khedive  with  a 
loyal  officer,  Derwish  Pasha,  was  in  the  Ras-el-Tin  Palace  on  the 
north  side  of  the  harbour.  Arabi,  who  professed  to  be  advocating 
a  patriotic  work  of "  Egypt  for  the  Egyptians  "  as  against  the 
Albanian  dynasty  of  Mohammed  Ali  and  his  successors,  raised 
the  cry  of  •'  Ya  Islam  "  and  it  was  reported  that  in  his  excitement 
on  entering  a  mosque  he  said  that  he  would  not  rest  till  the 
streets  of  Cairo  ran  with  Christian  blood.  At  all  events  his  fol- 
lowers tried  it  in  Alexandria  and  provoked  the  intervention  of 
England.  England  proposed  to  France  a  joint  occupation  and 
that  Turkey  denounce  Arabi  as  a  rebel  and  then  send  a  detach- 
ment of  troops  to  cooperate  with  the  English  army  and  navy. 
The  Sultan  declined  to  denounce  Arabi  and  the  French  declined 
to  send  troops,  so  Admiral  Seymour  and  Lord  Wolsley  were  left 
to  cope  single  handed  with  the  rebellion.  Arabi's  troops  went 
on  entrenching  in  the  forts  south  of  the  harbour,  until  at  length 
the  British  fleet  bombarded  them.  July  nth  and  1 2th  Arabi's 
troops  withdrew  from  the  city  and  there  was  another  massacre  of 
Europeans  and  the  European  quarter  of  the  city  burned.  In 
September  the  English  army  entered  the  Suez  Canal  and  occu- 
pied Port  Said  and  Ismailiyeh.  M.  de  Lesseps  protested  against 
the  passage  of  the  army  but  in  vain.  Arabi  hastened  towards 
Ismailiyeh  and  camped  at  Tel  el  Kebir.  Here  his  sleeping  army 
was  surprised  after  midnight  by  Lord  Wolsley 's  army,  who,  with- 
out warning,  opened  fire  on  the  camp  with  shot  and  shell. 
Arabi's  troops  were  panic  stricken.  A  few  fought  bravely  but 
all  were  soon  in  complete  rout.  Arabi  and  officers  escaped  to 
Cairo  on  a  special  train.  An  English  cavalry  officer  with  a  small 
detachment  galloped  along  the  edge  of  the  desert  to  Cairo,  sur- 
prised the  sentinel  at  the  citadel  and  summoned  the  commander 
to  surrender.  The  garrison  laid  down  their  arms  and  were 
bidden  to  disperse  to  their  homes.  On  the  arrival  of  Wolsley's 
army,  September  14th,  Arabi  surrendered,  was  tried  and  sentenced 
to  death,  but  the  sentence  was  commuted  to  banishment  to  Ceylon. 
Lord  Dufferin  came  to  Egypt.     The  whole  civil  and  police  sys- 


474  Helps  and  Hindrances 

terns  were  readjusted  and  reformed.  Law,  order  and  justice  soon 
put  an  end  to  the  bastinado,  extortion,  cruel  oppression  and 
bribery,  and  Egypt  entered  upon  a  career  of  unexampled  progress 
and  prosperity. 

June  2 1st  we  sailed  from  Alexandria,  reached  Naples  June 
24th  and  Marseilles  the  26th,  North  of  Corsica  we  saw  twelve 
whales.  Whales  have  often  been  seen  in  the  Eastern  Mediterra- 
nean and  the  carcases  of  two  large  ones  were  thrown  up  on  the 
shore  near  Tyre.  The  skull  of  one  of  them  is  in  the  museum  of 
the  Syrian  Protestant  College  in  Beirut.  We  passed  through 
Paris  and  spent  July  4th  in  London.  The  day  was  made  memo- 
rable by  a  drawing-room  meeting  at  Mr.  Stanley's,  Lancaster  Gate, 
Hyde  Park,  where  my  old  friend,  Canon  H.  B.  Tristram  of  Dur- 
ham, presented  to  me,  on  behalf  of  the  teachers  and  pupils  of  the 
British  Syrian  Schools  in  Syria,  a  beautiful  silver  inkstand  with  a 
suitable  inscription.  Many  friends  of  the  schools  were  present, 
and  the  occasion  was  very  affecting  to  me  and  very  comforting. 

From  the  year  i860  until  now  (1909),  it  has  always  been  my 
delight  to  visit  the  British  Syrian  Schools,  counsel  and  pray  with 
the  teachers,  and  address  the  pupils.  From  1861  to  1892  I  was 
superintendent  of  the  Beirut  Sunday-school  which  was  always  at- 
tended by  about  one  hundred  girls  of  these  schools. 

I  have  always  been  a  man  of  peace  and  have  striven  to  keep  all 
the  missionary  forces  in  Syria  in  full  cooperation  with  each  other, 
and  was  a  warm  friend  of  Mrs.  J.  Bowen  Thompson  and  her  three 
sisters,  Mrs.  Smith,  Mrs.  Mentor  Mott,  and  Miss  Lloyd,  and  their 
successors  in  the  direction  of  the  schools,  especially  Miss  Caroline 
Thompson,  the  present  (1907)  capable  and  consecrated  head  of  the 
schools  in  Syria.  Sectarian  discord  has  no  right  to  enter  mis- 
sionary ground.  We  should  seek  out  our  common  points  of 
agreement  and  relegate  our  paltry  denominational  differences  to 
oblivion.  Foreign  missionaries  should  work  together.  Moham- 
medans and  heathen  care  nothing  and  understand  little  of  our 
peculiar  differences  and  are  alienated  and  repelled  by  them. 
Protestant  missionaries  and  the  Syrian  evangelical  churches  are 
known  throughout  the  land  as  "  enjeeliyeen  "  or  gospel  evangel- 


Cooperation  in  Mission  Work  475" 

icals.  The  exclusiveness  and  narrow  sectarianism  of  certain  ultra 
ritualists  on  the  one  hand  and  non-ritualists  on  the  other,  have 
confused  the  Oriental  mind  and  given  occasion  to  the  enemies  of 
the  Gospel  to  rejoice.  I  have  opposed  introducing  the  word 
Presbyterian  into  the  Arabic  language  and  the  Arabic  Evangelical 
Church.  We  call  our  presbytery  "  El  Mejmaa  el  Meshkhy,"  the 
Elders'  Assembly.  We  do  not  need  the  Greek  word  for  elder 
when  we  have  the  Arabic  term  sheikh  used  in  the  Acts  and  the 
Epistles.  The  Presbyterian  order  of  government  seems  well 
adapted  to  the  Syrians  and  they  are  proving  themselves  capable 
of  managing  their  own  church  assemblies,  but  we  desire  that  it 
be  kept  free  from  sectarian  names  and  tendencies,  as  the  simple 
Gospel  is  by  far  the  best  weapon  and  the  best  name  in  commend- 
ing evangelical  religion  to  the  priest-ridden  people  of  the  Oriental 
Churches  and  the  intensely  ritualistic  followers  of  Islam. 

We  rejoice  in  the  cooperation  of  the  managers  and  teachers  of 
the  British  Syrian  Mission,  the  Moslem  and  Druse  Girls'  School  of 
Miss  Jessie  Taylor,  the  Church  of  Scotland  Mission  of  Dr. 
Mackie  and  the  German  pastor  and  the  deaconesses,  the  mission- 
aries of  the  Church  Missionary  Society  in  Palestine,  and  the 
British  and  American  Friends'  Society  in  Brummana  and  Ramul- 
lah.  Bishop  Blyth,  the  Anglican  bishop  in  Jerusalem,  is  trying 
to  build  up  a  wall  between  his  constituency  and  all  non-Episcopal 
Christians  in  Palestine  and  Syria,  and  to  fraternize  with  the  ec- 
clesiastics of  the  Orthodox  Greek  "  Brotherhood  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  "  who  annually  and  openly  deceive  thousands  of  pil- 
grims with  the  Satanic  farce  of  the  so-called  "  Holy  Fire."  Bishop 
Blyth  is  a  genial  and  lovable  man,  and  I  cannot  understand  how  he 
can  fraternize  with  such  a  set  of  shameless  impostors  as  the  monks 
and  bishops  of  the  Brotherhood  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  I  have 
spoken  of  this  elsewhere  in  the  chapter  on  the  organization  of  the 
Syrian  Evangelical  Church. 

Rev.  Dr.  Craig  of  the  Religious  Tract  Society  came  to  our 
lodgings  and  took  my  children  to  the  British  and  South  Kensing- 
ton Museums  and  to  the  Zoo.  We  were  all  deeply  touched  by 
his  kindness  and  his  tender  attentions  to  my  flock  of  little  ones. 


47^  Helps  and  Hindrances 

Mrs.  Tristram  also  took  charge  of  shopping  for  them  and  fitted 
them  out  for  the  Atlantic  voyage. 

July  6th  we  sailed  on  the  City  of  Berlin  for  New  York.  We 
had  a  rough  passage  but  I  was  able  to  preach  on  Sunday  evening, 
July  9th,  and  to  lecture  on  Egypt  July  14th.  We  reached  New 
York  Sunday  p.  m.,  July  i6th.  On  the  i8th  we  went  through  by  the 
D.  L.  &  W.  R.  R.  to  Montrose  and  were  met  at  the  station  by  the 
three  older  children,  Anna,  William  and  Henry,  and  soon  reached 
the  old  homestead  where  mother  was  still  living.  She  was  then 
eighty-four  years  of  age.  How  delightful  to  look  on  her  face 
once  more,  and  to  see  her  sitting  with  her  knitting  work  in  her 
favourite  armchair  by  the  window,  happy  in  being  surrounded 
by  so  many  of  her  children  and  grandchildren.  I  took  the  chil- 
dren to  the  lawn  under  the  ancient  apple  trees,  and  to  the  old 
garret  filled  with  so  many  quaint  relics  of  the  past,  to  the  apple 
orchard  and  the  garden,  and  from  time  to  time  to  the  blackberry 
patches,  the  "  High  Rocks,"  to  Jones  Lake  and  Silver  Lake,  to 
Fall  Brook  and  the  Salt  Springs.  We  roamed  over  the  farm  and 
at  times  brought  milk,  butter,  and  cream  to  the  homestead.  I 
lived  over  my  childhood  and  had  ample  time  to  review  my  life  of 
fifty  years. 

Relatives  and  friends  were  kind  and  sympathizing  to  the  last 
degree,  and  the  summer  passed  rapidly  away.  Calls  for  addresses 
poured  in  upon  me  and  as  the  events  passing  in  the  Nile  Valley 
engrossed  public  attention  I  was  obliged  to  prepare  an  address  on 
that  subject  which  was  finally  published  in  the  Foreign  Mission- 
ary. On  the  9th  of  August  at  the  request  of  Dr.  Ellinwood  I  at- 
tended the  missionary  convention  of  the  Synod  of  New  Jersey  at 
Asbury  Park,  where  I  stayed  at  Dr.  Ford's  sanitarium  and  met 
Dr.  Nevius  of  China,  Dr.  H.  A.  Nelson,  Dr.  A.  A.  Hodge,  and 
others.  Dr.  Nevius  gave  great  umbrage  to  the  ladies  by  saying 
that  in  foreign  missions  he  knew  no  difference  between  work  for 
men  and  work  for  women.  Had  he  lived  in  lands  where  the 
women  are  secluded  in  hareems  and  zenanas,  he  would  have 
probably  appreciated  better  the  need  of  women's  work  for  women. 
I  met  one  singular  character,  Mangasarian,  a  protege  of  Dr.  A.  A. 


A.  A.  Hodge's  Proteg^  477 

Hodge,  who  in  a  flaming  address  professed  great  desire  to  go  to 
Turkey  to  preach  to  the  Mohammedan  Turks,  yet  when  after  the 
session  Dr.  Hodge  assured  him  there  were  many  Armenian  Prot- 
estant Churches  in  Asia  Minor  which  would  be  glad  to  welcome 
him  as  their  pastor,  he  declared  that  he  could  not  and  would  not 
go,  as  the  Turks  would  surely  kill  him.  He  afterwards  became  a 
freethinker,  derided  Orthodox  Christianity  and  the  Bible,  and 
forsook  the  Christian  faith.  Dr.  Hodge  told  me  in  November 
that  this  Mangasarian  wrote  and  begged  him  to  obtain  for  him 
pulpits  to  supply  as  he  was  in  great  need.  "  So,"  said  Dr.  Hodge, 
"  I  commended  him  to  Mr.  Alexander  in  a  New  Jersey  town. 
He  went  there,  and  on  Monday  I  received  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Alexander  as  follows  :  '  Dear  Dr.  Hodge  :  If  you  have  no  bet- 
ter men  than  this  Mangasarian  please  send  us  no  more  preachers. 
He  abused  the  Board  of  Missions  and  Princeton  Seminary,  and 
declared  that  all  the  professors  were  stupid  dolts.'  So  I  wrote  to 
Mangasarian  and  insisted  that  he  come  to  me  at  once.  He  came 
and  I  read  him  Mr.  Alexander's  letter  and  rebuked  him  severely 
and  said,  'How  dare  you  abuse  your  own  professors?'  He 
blandly  replied,  '  Why,  doctor,  I  didn't  say  much.  I  only  said 
what  all  the  students  say ! '  "  On  this  Dr.  Hodge  laughed 
heartily  and  said  to  me,  "  You  can  do  nothing  with  such  a  man. 
Hereafter  I  shall  let  him  alone  to  shift  for  himself." 

His  career  should  be  a  lesson  to  theological  faculties  in  Amer- 
ica not  to  admit  foreign  adventurers  as  students  without  proper 
testimonials  as  to  their  character  and  religious  history. 

During  the  summer  Messrs.  W.  A.  Booth  and  D.  Stuart  Dodge, 
trustees  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College,  invited  me  to  remove 
to  New  York  and  undertake  the  raising  of  the  twenty  thousand 
dollar  scholarship  fund  in  order  to  secure  the  fund  of  ^10,000  con- 
ditionally offered  by  Rev.  G.  F.  Dale,  Jr.,  of  Zahleh. 

Before  visiting  the  Synods  of  Indiana,  New  Jersey  and  Penn- 
sylvania, I  removed  the  younger  children  under  the  care  of  my 
eldest  daughter,  October  4th,  to  New  York.  On  December  lOth 
my  son  Stuart  and  my  daughter  Mary  united  with  the  Church  of 
the  Covenant,  pastor  Dr.  Marvin  R.  Vincent. 


478  Helps  and  Hindrances 

That  winter  was  a  strenuous  one  to  me.  Lectures,  addresses, 
sleeping-car  travelling,  meeting  theological  students  in  Union, 
Auburn,  Princeton  and  Allegheny,  preparing  matter  for  the 
Foreign  Missionary  Magazine  and  interviewing  individuals  with 
reference  to  the  scholarship  fund,  kept  me  under  a  constant  strain. 

November  7th  I  attended  the  reception  given  by  the  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions  in  Centre  Street  to  Sir  Richard  Temple,  for- 
merly a  provincial  governor  in  India.  As  our  Board,  with  its 
intensely  conservative  traditional  policy,  had  neither  stenographer 
nor  typewriter,  I  took  pencil  notes  of  Sir  Richard's  address  which 
were  afterwards  published.  After  the  interview  I  accompanied 
him  to  call  on  ex-Secretary  of  State  Evarts,  then  to  the  Cooper 
Institute  and  the  Windsor  Hotel.  As  he  was  to  sail  immedi- 
ately, I  sent  to  his  hotel  the  report  of  his  address.  He  took  it 
with  him  on  the  steamer,  corrected  the  manuscript  and  returned 
it  by  mail  for  publication. 

The  reluctance  of  those  wise  brethren  at  23  Centre  Street 
to  allow  typewriters,  stenographers,  etc.,  nearly  sacrificed  the 
life  of  Dr.  Ellinwood  and  gave  a  wrench  to  my  nervous  sys- 
tem such  as  I  have  never  known.  On  December  2d  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood,  by  his  physician's  order,  sailed  on  the  Britannic  for  Eng- 
land, and  I  was  appointed  to  take  his  place  during  his  absence. 
I  consented,  and  from  nine  to  four  worked  daily  at  the  office  and 
generally  took  great  packages  of  unanswered  letters  home  with 
me,  to  work  over  them  into  the  small  hours  of  the  night.  I  had 
no  conception  until  that  time  of  the  labours  of  a  foreign  mission- 
ary secretary.  You  enter  your  office  at  8  :  30  or  9  a.  m.,  and  find 
twenty  or  more  letters  and  documents  from  home  and  foreign 
correspondents.  There  are  mission  votes  requiring  immediate 
attention  of  the  Board  ;  long  missionary  journals,  from  which 
portions  are  to  be  selected  for  publication  ;  letters  from  pastors, 
100  or  200  miles  away,  asking  for  a  rousing  sermon  next  Sunday, 
as  it  is  foreign  missions  annual  collection,  and  also  a  talk  to  a 
children's  meeting ;  confidential  letters  from  young  men  and 
women  in  seminaries,  asking  numerous  questions  about  enlist- 
ment in  the  work ;  suggestions  from  pastors  as  to  needed  im- 


The  Secretary  Sinecure  479 

provements  in  the  Monthly  Missionary  Magazine  ;  requests  for 
leaflets  and  missionary  Hterature,  etc.,  etc.  You  arrange  these 
letters  and  are  preparing  to  consult  the  venerable  secretaries 
about  the  foreign  documents  when  in  comes  a  theological  student 
anxious  to  have  full  and  free  talk  about  going  abroad,  selection 
of  fields,  special  preparation,  etc. ;  then  comes  a  pastor  full  of 
zeal  and  suggestions ;  then  a  book  agent  gets  by  Treasurer 
Rankin's  door  and  up-stairs  and  literally  bombards  you  with  his 
torrent  of  eloquence  and  you  curtly  refer  him  to  the  business 
agent  in  the  basement ;  then  a  telegram  proposing  a  missionary 
convention  in  a  Western  state  four  weeks  hence  and  asking  the 
address  of  returned  missionaries  ;  then  another  telegram  that 
good  Brother  A.  of  the  B.  mission  is  on  board  the  steamer 
coming  up  the  harbour  with  a  sick  wife  and  his  children, 
and  asking  that  he  may  be  met  and  advised  where  to  go  on  his 
arrival ;  then  a  young  lady  from  a  well-known  college  comes  to 
have  a  good  talk  about  the  propriety  of  taking  a  medical  course 
before  going  abroad,  etc.,  etc.,  until  twelve  o'clock  comes.  The 
other  officers  are  starting  out  for  lunch.  You  go  with  them  and 
after  a  too  hasty  meal  return  to  find  another  mail  has  come  in. 
You  bend  to  your  work,  write  a  dozen  letters  and  telegrams, 
copy  your  letters  in  the  screw  copying-press,  fold  them,  direct 
them,  stamp  them,  and  as  it  is  growing  dark,  gather  up  your 
documents  and  papers,  hurry  to  the  ferry,  take  the  Princeton 
train,  address  the  students  in  the  evening,  and  return  on  the 
earliest  morning  train  to  go  through  the  treadmill  again.  I 
asked  the  older  officials  why  they  did  not  have  stenographers 
and  typewriters.  They  thought  it  a  needless  expense.  "  Such 
things  never  have  been  used  and  why  use  the  Lord's  money  for 
them  now  ?  "  I  went  to  see  Mr.  Booth  and  other  members  of 
the  Board.  I  felt  that  this  grinding  system  had  nearly  killed  Dr. 
Ellinwood  and  Mr.  Booth  agreed  with  me.  I  wrote  to  Dr.  El- 
linwood  not  to  consent  to  go  on  with  his  arduous  work  on  his 
return  unless  he  was  supplied  with  a  stenographer  and  type- 
writer.    The  point  was  carried  after  his  return. 

During  November  and  December  I  visited  Wilkesbarre  where 


480  Helps  and  Hindrances 

Mr.  J.  W.  Hollenback  gave  me  ^1,200  for  a  college  scholarship; 
Orange,  where  Mr.  L.  P.  Stone  and  Egbert  Starr  each  gave  two 
scholarships  ;  Pittsburg,  where  I  addressed  the  Allegheny  stu- 
dents and  dined  with  that  blessed  steward  of  the  Lord,  William 
Thaw.  He  gave  me  ^2,400  for  two  scholarships,  with  that  beau- 
tiful smile  that  lighted  up  his  face  when  doing  a  kind  act.  He 
thanked  me  for  coming  and  said  that  he  felt  it  to  be  a  privilege 
to  have  part  in  the  Lord's  work  in  Syria. 

I  went  thence  to  Cincinnati  and  Lane  Seminary,  attended  a 
missionary  convention,  and  spent  Sunday  with  Dr.  Nelson  at 
Geneva,  N.  Y. ;  visited  Auburn,  met  several  missionary  candi- 
dates and  called  on  Dr.  Willard,  another  of  God's  stewards,  who, 
like  Mr.  Dodge  and  Mr.  Thaw,  abounded  in  good  works. 

On  the  morning  of  December  20,  1882,  as  I  entered  the  mis- 
sion house  Mr.  W.  Rankin  said  to  me,  •'  When  do  you  leave  for 
Persia  ?  "  I  replied,  "  Never,  that  I  know  of.  If  I  live  to  cross 
the  sea  again  it  will  be  for  my  Syrian  home  and  work."  He 
then  asked  me,  "  Have  you  read  the  morning  papers  ?  "  I  re- 
plied, that  for  a  wonder  I  had  not.  Handing  me  the  New  York 
Tribune  he  said,  "  Read  that !  "  I  read,  "  President  Arthur  has 
appointed  Rev.  Henry  H.  Jessup,  D.  D.,  of  Syria,  to  be  first 
United  States  Minister  to  Persia,  and  sent  the  nomination  to  the 
Senate."  I  said  to  Mr.  Rankin,  "  Whose  work  was  that  ?  Who 
sent  my  name  to  President  Arthur  ?  "  He  said  he  could  think 
of  no  more  likely  person  than  Dr.  Irenaeus  Prime  of  the  New 
York  Observer,  who  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of  President 
Arthur.  I  went  up  to  my  office  and  shut  the  door  and  prayed 
for  wisdom  that  I  might  get  out  of  this  complication  before  it 
went  any  further. 

I  thought  it  over.  Yes,  I  had  met  Dr.  Prime  at  Chi  Alpha  re- 
cently, and  he  very  incidentally  asked  me  if  I  spoke  Persian,  to 
which  I  replied  in  the  negative.  I  made  haste,  by  the  City  Hall, 
down  to  the  Obsei-ver  office.  Dr.  Prime  was  out.  Dr.  Stod- 
dard explained  that  Dr.  Prime  had  written  to  President  Arthur 
about  the  Persian  Legation  and  used  my  name.  I  went  back  to 
the  mission  house,  wrote  to  Dr.  Prime,  stated  that  I  could  not  ac- 


Appointed  Minister  to  Persia  481 

cept  it,  that  I  was  not  qualified  for  a  diplomatic  post  and  that  I 
would  not  give  up  preaching  the  Gospel.  I  also  telegraphed  to 
Secretary  of  State  F.  T.  Frelinghuysen,  as  follows  :  •'  Please 
tender  to  President  Arthur  my  cordial  thanks  for  the  high  honour 
conferred  upon  me  by  the  nomination  to  the  Persian  court,  but 
it  is  impossible  for  me  to  accept."  Dr.  Prime  wrote  to  the  chair- 
man of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  explaining  why 
I  declined.  He  received  at  once  an  answer,  "  Please  send  Dr. 
Jessup  on  to  Washington.  The  committee  would  like  to  see  a 
man  who  does  not  regard  himself  as  qualified  for  an  office.  We 
have  never  seen  one."  I  did  not  go,  either  to  Washington  or 
Teheran,  but  in  1903  was  glad  to  send  my  youngest  son  Frede- 
rick to  Tabriz,  in  Persia,  as  Christ's  ambassador  to  that  dark  em- 
pire. 

I  have  not  ceased  to  be  thankful  that  I  declined  that  post.  A 
missionary's  son,  Mr.  Benjamin,  the  well-known  writer,  received 
the  appointment  and  after  serving  his  country  efficiently,  pub- 
lished a  valuable  book  on  Persia. 

In  January,  1883,  in  addition  to  the  office  work  in  Centre 
Street,  I  visited  Chicago,  Wilmington,  Hartford,  and  Brooklyn. 
On  the  7th  of  February  Dr.  Ellinwood  returned  much  refreshed  by 
his  journey  by  sea  and  land.  On  Thursday  evening,  the  8th,  I  lec- 
tured in  the  chapel  of  Dr.  Cuthbert  Hall's  First  Church  in  Brook- 
lyn on  the  Egyptian  crisis.  Before  going  to  Brooklyn  I  called 
on  Mr.  Wm.  E.  Dodge,  who  was  somewhat  indisposed.  Imme- 
diately on  my  return  to  35th  Street  at  9  a.  m.,  I  hastened  to  Mr. 
Dodge's  house  only  two  blocks  away  and  to  my  surprise  was  met 
at  the  door  by  Edward,  the  faithful  family  servant,  with  the  words, 
"  Dr.  Jessup,  Mr.  Dodge  is  dead !  "  He  had  died  suddenly  of 
heart  disease.  I  found  his  sons  Stuart,  Charles,  and  Arthur,  and 
several  relatives.  To  me  the  shock  was  stunning.  I  went  to  my 
room  and  by  2  p.  m.  had  a  sinking  sensation  which  alarmed  the 
children.  The  doctor  came  and  pronounced  it  nervous  prostra- 
tion. I  was  ordered  to  bed  and  to  absolute  quiet  for  a  long 
period.  I  had  numerous  appointments  to  speak  in  Baltimore  and 
other  cities  but  the  doctor  ordered  them  all  cancelled. 


482  Helps  and  Hindrances 

Mr,  Dodge's  funeral  was  February  12th,  within  a  block  of  my 
lodgings,  and  Dr.  Vincent  had  asked  me  to  assist  at  the  exercises, 
but  I  could  not  leave  my  bed.  The  throng  was  very  great  and  at 
its  close  Dr.  EUinwood,  Dr.  H.  M.  Field,  and  Drs.  Clark  and  A.  C. 
Thompson  of  the  American  Board  called  to  see  me. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Dodge  was  a  public  calamity.  He  was  so 
eminent  as  a  Christian  merchant,  patriot,  and  philanthropist,  that 
no  New  Yorker  was  more  widely  known.  He  was  a  lifelong 
friend  of  missions,  home  and  foreign,  a  champion  of  temperance,  of 
commanding  presence,  an  eloquent  speaker,  and  the  simple  piety 
of  his  family  life,  his  family  altar,  his  strict  Sabbath  observance, 
and  his  lovely  winning  manner  made  him  such  a  father  and  hus- 
band and  friend  as  few  homes  can  boast. 

Several  of  his  sons  and  grandsons  caught  his  spirit  and  are,  like 
him,  a  blessing  to  the  world.  Mrs.  Dodge  was  no  less  eminent  in 
all  purely  evangelical  and  philanthropic  work  and  survived  him 
long,  beloved  and  honoured. 

Syrian  letters  from  Drs.  Dennis,  S.  Jessup,  and  W.  W.  Eddy 
gave  full  particulars  of  the  death  of  our  promising  young  mission- 
ary physician,  Charles  William  Calhoun.  Dr.  Dennis  said,  "  He 
was  born  in  Syria,  son  of  Rev.  Simeon  Howard  Calhoun  and  was 
thirty-three  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  death.  He  had  the 
advantages  of  the  early  training  of  his  honoured  father,  and  was 
educated  at  Williams  College,  the  Union  Theological  Seminary, 
and  the  University  Medical  School  of  New  York.  He  came  to 
Syria  in  the  fullness  of  his  strength  and  with  a  hearty  consecra- 
tion to  the  service  of  Christ  in  the  land  of  his  birth.  He  was 
connected  with  the  Tripoli  station  for  four  years ;  and  such  years 
of  enthusiastic  work  and  abounding  services,  both  to  the  souls 
and  bodies  of  the  people  of  that  wide  Northern  field  ! 

"His  death  occurred  at  Shwifat  near  Beirut,  June  22,  1883. 
He  had  recently  returned  from  a  long  tour  in  Northern  Syria  and 
the  Zahleh  field  with  Mr.  Dale  and  seemed  to  have  contracted  a 
malarial  fever  of  a  malignant  type  which  proved  fatal.  His  mother 
entered  the  sick-room  early  in  the  morning  soon  after  the  watcher 
for  the  night  had  left,  and  thinking  him  to  be  asleep,  sat  for  some 


Deaths  of  Charles  Calhoun  and  Butrus  Bistany     483 

time  in  the  presence  of  death,  without  knowing  the  true  cause  of 
the  patient's  strange  stillness.  She  finally  approached  him  and 
ivas  stunned  by  the  painful  discovery  that  his  spirit  had  taken  its 
flight  homeward.  He  was  '  the  only  son  of  his  mother  and  she 
a  widow.'  The  only  sign  that  his  spirit  left  to  give  a  hint  of  the 
final  scene  was  a  placid  and  heavenly  expression  on  his  face  as  if 
he  had  met  death  with  a  smile,  as  he  passed  into  rest.  The  fu- 
neral services  were  held  in  Shwifat  and  the  next  day  in  Beirut." 

Dr.  Samuel  Jessup  said, "  When  his  medical  practice  had 
greatly  increased  and  his  surgical  skill  had  attracted  attention,  he 
was  in  1882  obliged  by  the  government  through  the  intrigues  of 
a  rival  physician  to  leave  Tripoli.  He  spent  the  time  in  touring, 
and  visited  Constantinople  where  he  obtained  an  imperial  Turkish 
diploma  that  gave  him  the  right  to  practice  anywhere  in  the  em- 
pire. He  returned  to  Tripoli  and  seemed  entering  on  a  career  of 
great  usefulness  when  he  was  prostrated  by  fever." 

He  was  genial,  courteous,  full  of  good  humour,  a  most  skillful 
surgeon,  familiar  with  the  Arabic  colloquial  from  his  childhood. 
These  traits  made  him  very  popular.  He  could  sleep  anywhere, 
on  a  mat  or  on  the  ground,  and  eat  the  coarsest  and  most  unpal- 
atable Arab  food  with  a  relish. 

His  consistent  Christian  walk  and  self-denying  labours  exem- 
plified the  religion  he  professed  and  preached. 

Death  of  Muallim  Butrus  el  Bistany 
The  Syrian   Evangelical   Church  and  the  Syrian  people  of  all 
classes  suffered  a  great  loss  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Butrus  el  Bistany^ 
May  I,  1883.     He  was  the  most  learned,  industrious,  and  success- 
ful as  well  as  the  most  influential  man  of  modern  Syria. 

He  was  born  in  Dibbiyeh,  Mount  Lebanon,  nine  miles  north- 
east of  Sidon,  of  Maronite  parentage,  and  studied  the  Arabic 
and  Syriac  under  a  Maronite  priest,  Michaiel  Bistany,  during  the 
rule  of  the  famous  Emir  Bushir.  He  afterwards  entered  the 
patriarchal  clerical  school  at  the  monastery  of  Ain  Wurka  where 
he  studied  Arabic  grammar,  rhetoric,  logic,  history,  with  Latin, 
Syriac,  and  Italian. 


484  Helps  and  Hindrances 

About  the  year  1840  he  found,  in  reading  the  Syriac  Testa- 
ment, the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  and  leaving  his 
monastic  retreat,  fled  to  Beirut,  where  he  entered  the  house  of 
Dr.  Eh  Smith  for  protection.  For  two  years  he  was  a  prisoner, 
not  venturing  outside  the  gates,  lest  he  be  shot  by  spies  of  the 
Maronite  patriarch.  From  that  time  he  became  an  invaluable 
helper  to  the  American  missionaries,  and  in  1846  began  to  help 
Dr.  Van  Dyck  in  the  newly  founded  Abeih  Seminary.  During 
this  period  he  prepared  a  school  arithmetic  which  is  still  a 
standard  work  in  Arabic.  He  then  removed  to  Beirut  and  be- 
came dragoman  (interpreter  and  clerk)  to  the  American  con- 
sulate and  assistant  to  Dr.  EH  Smith  in  the  translation  of  the 
Bible,  continuing  on  this  work  until  the  death  of  Dr.  Smith  in 
1857.  He  then  published  two  Arabic  dictionaries,  the  "  Muhit 
el  Muhit,"  a  comprehensive  work  in  two  octavo  volumes  of  1,200 
pages  each,  and  the  "  Kotr  el  Muhit"  an  abridgment  of  the 
former,  which  were  finished  in  1869. 

In  i860  after  the  massacres,  when  thousands  of  refugees  were 
crowded  into  Beirut,  he  published  a  weekly  sheet  of  advice  (the 
Nefeer)  to  the  Syrian  people,  calling  them  to  union  and  coopera- 
tion in  reconstructing  their  distracted  and  almost  ruined  country. 

In  1862  he  founded  the  "  Madriset  el  Wataniyet"  or  National 
School  on  his  own  premises,  receiving  aid  from  English  and 
American  friends.  The  school  continued  for  about  fifteen  years 
and  trained  a  large  number  of  youth  of  all  sects  and  from  all 
parts  of  the  land. 

The  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid  II,  on  receiving  copies  of  his 
dictionary,  sent  him  a  present  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
sterling  and  a  decoration  of  the  third  class  of  the  Medjidiyeh  and 
another  decoration  in  view  of  his  founding  the  "  National  School." 
He  also  founded  \.h.Q  Jenan,  a  fortnightly  literary  magazine  which 
his  son  Selim  Effendi  edited  and  also  the  Jenneh,  a  semi-weekly 
journal  and  the  Je^ieineh,  a  daily  which  continued  three  years. 

In  1875  he  began  his  great  literary  work,  the  "  Daierat  el 
Maarif,"  an  Arabic  encyclopedia,  in  twelve  volumes,  of  which  six 
were  finished  at  the  time  of  his  death,  May  ist,  1883,  and  four 


M.  Bistany's  Literary  Achievements  485 

more  were  finished  by  his  sons,  but  unfortunately  it  has  never 
been  completed.  It  is  a  compilation  and  translation  of  the  best 
French,  English,  and  American  encyclopedias,  and  the  geo- 
graphical and  historical  parts  are  enriched  from  the  best  works 
of  the  most  eminent  Arabic  authors.  The  illustrations  were 
furnished  by  Messrs.  Appleton  &  Co.  of  New  York  and  the  book 
as  far  as  printed  is  a  monument  of  industry  and  literary  ability. 
The  Viceroy  of  Egypt  subscribed  for  500  sets  of  this  encyclo- 
pedia and  his  list  of  Syrian  subscribers  embraced  pashas,  patri- 
archs, bishops,  priests,  mudirs,  muftis,  kadis,  sheikhs,  merchants, 
farmers,  teachers,  students,  monks,  and  the  foreign  missionaries 
throughout  Syria  and  India,  as  well  as  learned  scholars  in 
Germany,  France,  England,  and  America. 

He  also  published  works  on  bookkeeping,  Arabic  grammar, 
and  translated  into  Arabic  the  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  "  D'Aubigne's 
Reformation,"  "  Edward's  History  of  Redemption,"  and  "  Robin- 
son Crusoe." 

He  was  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  Beirut  church, 
and  an  elder  for  thirty-five  years.  He  was  also  for  twenty  years 
president  of  the  Native  Evangelical  Society.  For  years  he  aided 
in  the  preaching  and  in  the  Sunday-school,  and  was  looked  to 
for  addresses  on  all  important  occasions.  In  1882  he  preached 
twice,  on  "  I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me,  let  us  go  into  the 
house  of  the  Lord,"  and  "  Fear  not,  little  flock." 

His  wife  Raheel  Ata,  a  pupil  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Huntington  Smith, 
was  the  first  girl  taught  to  read  in  Syria,  and  her  home  until  her 
death  was  known  as  a  model  Christian  home. 

He  died  suddenly  May  i,  1883,  of  heart  disease,  pen  in 
hand,  surrounded  by  his  books  and  manuscripts. 

The  funeral  was  conducted  in  the  American  Mission  Church  by 
the  missionaries  and  the  crowd  was  almost  unprecedented. 

Remarkable  tributes  were  paid  to  his  memory.  When  he  first 
came  to  Beirut  the  Maronite  patriarch  set  a  price  on  his  head. 
When  he  died  Gregorius,  Papal  Greek  Patriarch  of  Antioch, 
Alexandria,  and  Jerusalem,  wrote  to  his  son  a  most  affectionate 
letter  stating  that  "  the  whole  nation  mourns  your  father's  death. 


486  Helps  and  Hindrances 

Literature,  education,  learning,  and  every  good  cause  laments 
his  departure.  He  was  a  dear  friend  and  a  brother  to  us  all,  and 
but  for  the  hope  that  you  his  son  will  fill  his  place  and  complete 
his  work,  we  would  be  inconsolable." 

Truly  the  world  moves  and  bigotry  loses  its  power. 

His  son  Selim  Effendi  only  survived  him  a  few  months, 
having  died  suddenly  in  September,  1884, 

The  publication  of  the  encyclopedia  was  then  continued  by 
his  son  Najib  Effendi  until  ten  volumes  had  been  printed.  Since 
then  the  want  of  funds,  and  the  rigorous  press  laws  which 
require  two  copies  in  manuscript  of  every  book  to  be  printed  to 
be  sent  to  Constantinople  for  sanction  have  prevented  the  com- 
pletion of  the  book.  To  make  two  copies  of  a  book  of  1,000 
pages  and  then  wait  months  and  perhaps  years  for  their  return, 
is  enough  to  discourage  authors  and  publishers.  The  book  may 
yet  be  completed  in  Egypt. 

In  September  I  had  interviews  with  Ira  Harris,  M.  D,,  on  the 
train  to  New  York,  and  he  decided  to  go  to  Syria  to  take  up  the 
work  of  the  lamented  Dr.  Chas.  W.  Calhoun  who  died  in  June ; 
and  with  Miss  M.  C.  Holmes  who  was  preparing  to  go  to  the 
school  in  Tripoli.  I  also  met  during  the  summer  Mr.  Hoskins, 
Mr,  R.  H.  West,  and  Dr.  Kay,  all  preparing  to  go  to  the  Syrian 
Protestant  College  in  Beirut. 

October  2d  I  set  out  on  a  four  weeks'  tour  to  the  Synods  of 
Kansas,  Missouri,  Iowa,  and  Ohio.  At  Topeka  I  found  Mr. 
Howard  S.  Bliss,  son  of  our  college  president  and  my  old 
comrade  for  thirty  years,  little  thinking  that  at  this  time  (1906), 
he  would  have  succeeded  his  revered  father  in  the  Syrian  Protes- 
tant College.  I  visited  Emporia,  Topeka,  Park  College,  St. 
Joseph,  Atchison,  Kansas  City,  St.  Louis,  Alton,  Springfield,  Mo., 
Clinton,  la.,  Bloomington  and  Joliet,  Oxford,  O.,  Wooster  and 
Ann  Arbor  Universities,  and  was  so  refreshed  by  meeting  so 
many  consecrated  and  noble  Christian  men  and  women  that  I 
forgot  the  fatigues  of  the  journey. 

At  the  Synod  of  Missouri  at  Springfield,  I  laid  before  the 


First  Gift  for  Korea  487 

people  the  loud  call  just  received  for  missionaries  to  begin  a  mis- 
sion to  Korea,  which  the  Board  had  asked  me  to  present  to  the 
churches.  I  saw  in  the  congregation  the  apostle  of  home  mis- 
sions, Rev.  Dr.  Timothy  Hill,  who  had  founded  more  churches 
in  the  West  and  South  than  any  living  man.  At  the  close  of  my 
remarks  he  stepped  up  to  the  pulpit  and  handing  me  a  twenty 
dollar  gold  piece,  said,  "  Here  is  from  home  missions  to  foreign 
missions !  Let  that  go  to  the  mission  in  Korea  !  "  I  took  it  on 
to  New  York  and  it  was  the  first  gift,  or  among  the  first,  for  that 
mission  which  is  a  crown  of  rejoicing  in  the  missionary  world 
to-day. 

Truly  the  missionary  spirit  is  one  at  home  and  abroad  !  I  had 
travelled  5,333  miles  without  a  detention  or  accident  and  on  my 
return  to  the  old  homestead  found  the  children  well. 

In  November  I  visited  South  Hadley  College  and  Wellesley 
College,  called  on  my  sons,  William  and  Henry,  at  Princeton 
College,  and  returned  to  Montrose  to  fix  up  the  old  homestead 
for  winter  quarters,  as  it  sometimes  happens  that  in  that  high 
beech  woods  region  they  have  ninety  continuous  days  of  snow. 

In  December  I  attended  a  missionary  convention  in  Chicago 
of  800  medical  students,  young  men  and  women,  which  lasted 
two  days.  We  had  the  help  of  Mr.  Wishard,  Dr.  Henry  M. 
Scudder,  Mr.  Farwell,  Mr.  Blatchford,  and  Dr.  Dowkontt. 

Thence  I  went  to  a  missionary  convention  at  Parsons  College, 
Fairfield,  Iowa,  and  returned  via  Buffalo  and  Binghamton  to 
Montrose.  In  Syria  various  changes  had  taken  place.  Dr.  Ira 
Harris  and  Miss  Holmes  reached  Tripoli  to  take  the  places  of 
Dr.  Calhoun  who  died  June  22d  in  Shwifat,  and  Miss  Cundall. 
Mr.  March  was  transferred  from  Zahleh  to  Tripoli  and  Dr.  Samuel 
Jessup  from  Tripoli  to  Beirut.  When  Dr.  Samuel  Jessup  of 
Tripoli  announced  to  his  friends  there  that  he  was  about  to  re- 
move to  Beirut  where  he  would  have  charge  of  the  press  and  be 
relieved  from  the  long  horseback  rides  of  the  wide  Tripoli  field, 
the  leading  Moslems,  Greeks,  and  Maronites  proposed  to  unite 
in  a  petition  to  the  missionary  authorities  to  have  him  retained 
among  them.     When  told  that  he  could  not  longer  bear  the 


488  Helps  and  Hindrances 

I  work  of  itineracy  they  replied,  "  Then  let  him  stay  here  and  just 
sit,  and  let  us  come  and  look  at  him.  That  will  be  enough." 
Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell,  in  alluding  to  this  incident,  said,  "  His  faith- 
ful service  of  twenty  years  had  proved  a  living  evangel  known 
i  and  read  of  all  men."  Messrs.  West  and  Hoskins  joined  the 
teaching  staff  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College,  Miss  Sarah  A. 
Ford  was  stationed  in  Sidon  and  Mr.  Greenlee  in  Zahleh  with 
Mr.  Dale.  On  December  6th  Mr.  Michaiel  Araman  died  in 
Beirut.  He  was  for  thirty  years  a  teacher  and  a  preacher — a 
translator  and  an  officer  of  the  church.  For  years  he  taught  in 
Abeih  and  then  in  the  girls'  boarding-school  in  Beirut.  He  was 
a  faithful  teacher,  a  kind  father,  and  an  exemplary  Christian. 

December  16,  1883,  W.  Carslaw,  M.  D.,  of  Shweir,  of  the 
Free  Church  of  Scotland,  was  ordained  by  the  presbytery  as  an 
evangelist.  The  new  theological  hall  on  the  college  campus  was 
dedicated  and  occupied  December  i8th.  In  April,  1884,  Rev. 
Gerald  F.  Dale  and  family  left  for  America  and  he  and  his  wife 
were  called  to  suffer  the  trial  of  burying  their  infant  daughter 
Lizzie,  May  3d,  in  Alexandria. 

January  31,  1884,  a  missionary  convention  was  held  in  Bing- 
hamton.  Dr.  Elhnwood  and  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell,  who  had  just 
accepted  the  position  of  secretary  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, were  present.  In  spite  of  a  severe  rain  and  snow-storm 
the  attendance  was  good.  Mrs.  Laiya  Barakat  spoke  at  the 
women's  meeting.  I  attended  the  meeting  and  sat  in  the  rear  of 
the  church,  partly  behind  a  pillar,  and  as  I  listened  to  her  earnest 
words,  recalled  the  time  twelve  years  before,  when  as  a  sewing 
girl  she  used  to  come  to  me  in  Abeih,  her  native  village,  and  re- 
peat from  memory  Arab  nursery  rhymes  by  the  score.  The 
emigration  and  scattering  of  the  youth  of  Syria  fills  me  with  as- 
tonishment, and  the  query  often  arises.  What  does  it  all  mean? 
Time  will  reveal  the  mystery. 

February  3d  I  preached  in  the  "  coloured  "  Zion  church  in 
Montrose.  The  negroes  have  a  strong  church,  and  their  pastor, 
George  Washington,  asked  me  to  preach  and  remain  for  the 
prayer-meeting  afterwards.     I  knew  niost  of  the  congregation 


Old  Booey  489 

and  a  book  might  be  written  about  their  eccentric  ways.  They 
once  had  a  meeting  "  to  decide  what  colour  they  should  white- 
wash the  meetin'  house."  In  front  of  the  pulpit  was  the  most 
extraordinary  character  of  all,  Old  Booey.  He  was  short  and 
heavy,  with  large  eyes  and  a  mouth  of  vast  size,  seeming  to  ex- 
tend almost  from  ear  to  ear.  He  was  a  man  of  great  power  and 
voice  in  prayer,  and  his  original  sayings  became  proverbial  in 
the  town.  He  drove  a  "  one  hoss  "  rickety  wagon  around  the 
county  collecting  bones,  which  he  "  toted  "  to  the  railroad  station 
and  when  he  had  enough,  shipped  them  by  the  carload  to  Phila- 
delphia. One  day  he  drove  up  to  a  lone  farmhouse,  hobbled  up 
to  the  door  and  knocked.  The  farmer's  wife  came  to  the  door 
and  looked  on  his  glaring  eyes  and  he  exclaimed,  "  I've  come 
for  your  bones ! "  She  thought  her  time  had  surely  come,  and 
slammed  the  door  in  his  face.  She  locked  it  and  watched  him 
from  the  window  as  he  went  around  the  back  yard  gathering  up 
old  bones  which  he  threw  into  his  wagon  and  drove  away. 

I  had  known  Booey  for  many  years.  He  listened  to  my 
sermon  on  the  Gadarene  demoniac  and  the  description  of  the 
Sea  of  Galilee,  and  as  a  fellow  preacher,  nodded  patronizingly. 
After  the  sermon,  the  pastor  called  on  the  brethren  to  pray. 
Booey  stepped  forward  into  the  aisle,  kneeled  down,  and  began 
in  a  weird  sepulchral  voice  that  seemed  to  send  the  cold  chills 
through  me,  and  at  length  said,  "  Oh,  Lord,  keep  us  all  dis  night, 
but  if  it  should  please  Thee  that  Thy  humble  servant  should  never 
see  another  day,  but  this  night  should  be  his  last  and  I  should 
enter  into  Thy  great  glory,  oh,  Lord,  won't  Satan  be  disappointed 
of  his  great  expectations  !  "  "  Amen  !  Amen !  "  shouted  the 
brethren  and  I  joined  with  them,  "  Amen  !  " 

That  prayer  was  solemn  and  pathetic,  and  some  years  after, 
the  good  man  entered  into  glory  and  Satan  lost  his  victim. 

In  March  I  visited  Baltimore,  spoke  in  Brown  Memorial 
Church  and  lectured  before  the  students  of  Johns  Hopkins  by 
invitation  of  my  friend,  Dr.  Daniel  Gilman. 

I  then  went  to  Washington  and  on  March  22d  called,  by  ap- 
pointment, with  Dr.  Stuart  Dodge,  Hon.  W.  Walter  Phelps,  and 


490  Helps  and  Hindrances 

Judge  William  Strong,  on  President  Arthur  and  Secretary  of 
State  F.  T.  Frelinghuysen  with  reference  to  certain  outrages  upon 
American  citizens  in  Asia  Minor. 

On  Sunday  I  preached  twice  in  the  New  York  Avenue  Church 
and  met  many  old  friends. 

Owing  to  the  death  of  Rev.  Dr.  Hatfield,  retiring  moderator  of 
the  General  Assembly,  the  stated  clerk  requested  me  to  preach 
the  opening  sermon  of  the  General  Assembly  at  Saratoga  in  May. 

As  I  went  back  to  Syria  in  1879  without  preaching  the  sermon 
the  following  year,  it  was  only  fair  that  I  fill  the  breach  this  year. 
The  sermon  was  preached  May  15,  1884,  on  the  texts: 

"  Fear  not,  for  I  am  with  thee ;  I  will  bring  thy  seed  from  the 
east,  and  gather  thee  from  the  west ;  I  will  say  to  the  north,  give 
up,  and  to  the  south,  keep  not  back  ;  bring  my  sons  from  far,  and 
my  daughters  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  "  (Isa.  43 :  5,  6). 

"  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  teach  all  nations,  and,  lo,  I  am  with  you 
alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world  "  (Matt.  28 :  19,  20). 

The  following  extracts  are  true  now  as  they  were  then. 

The  Messianic  Prophet  and  the  Christ  of  all  the  prophets  here 
unite  their  voices  in  calling  the  whole  Church  to  the  rescue  of  the 
whole  world.  The  four  quarters  of  the  globe  are  summoned. 
The  Lord's  sons  and  daughters  are  to  be  gathered  from  the  ends 
of  the  earth.  This  is  the  high,  the  supreme  mission  of  the  Church 
of  Christ.  This  will  remain  its  supreme  mission  until  "  every 
knee  shall  bow  and  every  tongue  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord, 
to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father." 

The  whole  Church  as  a  church  needs  a  higher  consecration,  a 
consecration  all  along  the  line,  of  person  and  property,  of  life  and 
service,  of  ourselves  and  our  children,  to  Him  who  has  bought  us 
with  His  own  blood.  Water  will  not  rise  higher  that  its  fountain- 
head.  A  church  will  not  rise  higher  than  the  consecration  of  its 
individual  members. 

We  need  to  go  out  of  ourselves,  to  look  upon  our  church 
machinery  as  only  a  means  to  an  end,  and  that  end  the  glory  of 
Christ  in  saving  men  everywhere. 

A  living  orthodoxy  is  a  chain  binding  the  Church  to  the  living 


be 
^^ 

§  2 

H  Ph 


Preaching  by  Conduct  and  Practice  491 

Christ,  and  insuring  growth  and  progress.  A  dead  orthodoxy  is 
a  splendid  seal  set  upon  a  sepulchre. 

The  modes  of  preaching  the  Gospel  are  various,  but  the  Gospel 
to  be  preached  is  one.  If  missionaries  open  schools  and  teach, 
the  Bible  and  the  Christian  faith  must  be  the  foundation  of  all 
their  teaching.  Dana,  Dawson,  and  Guyot  are  illustrations  of 
teaching  the  profoundest  and  purest  science  in  the  reverent  spirit 
of  Christian  faith.  Teaching  medicine  and  science,  for  the  sake 
of  medicine  and  science,  is  not  the  work  of  the  missionary  ;  but 
he  may  teach  both  in  a  Christian  spirit,  and  with  thorough  in- 
struction in  the  Bible,  and  thus  train  Christian  physicians  and 
scholars  who  will  be  pillars  of  the  Church  in  their  native  land. 

Type  casting  and  book  making  are  mechanical  arts,  but  when 
done  to  give  the  Bible  to  a  nation,  as  was  done  by  Eli  Smith, 
Van  Dyck,  Graham,  Carey,  Marshman,  Morrison,  and  Dyer,  in 
giving  the  Bible  to  the  Arabs,  the  Hindus,  and  the  Chinese,  they 
become  a  noble  form  and  mode  of  preaching  the  Gospel.  Liv- 
ingstone was  teaching  when  traversing  Africa  with  his  Makololo 
companions.  Eli  Smith  was  teaching  when  he  spent  weary  months 
in  the  type  foundries  of  Germany  with  Hallock,  making  the 
metallic  punches  and  matrices  for  the  new  so-called  American 
font  of  Arabic  type  in  which  the  Bible  was  to  be  printed  for  sixty 
millions  of  Arabic-speaking  people ;  Hamlin  was  teaching  when 
training  the  persecuted  Armenians  to  bake  bread  for  the  British 
Crimean  army  ;  Dr.  Peter  Parker  when  surrounded  by  thousands 
of  patients  in  Canton  ;  Dr.  Pratt  when  travelling  in  the  Taurus 
Mountains  ;  Dr.  Azariah  Smith  when  organizing  the  Christians 
of  Aintab  into  a  self-supporting  community;  the  Constantinople 
missionaries,  Hamlin  and  Trowbridge,  when  caring  for  hundreds 
of  cholera  patients  ;  Dr.  Grant,  when  journeying  from  village  to 
village  among  the  robber  Kurds ;  Whiting,  in  sacrificing  his  life 
to  save  the  famine-stricken  Chinese;  Calhoun,  confided  in  and 
trusted  by  both  Druses  and  Maronites  in  the  midst  of  their  fierce 
civil  war,  when  both  parties  alternately  brought  their  gold  and 
jewels  to  his  unprotected  house  for  safe-keeping ;  the  Syria  mis- 
sionaries during  the  massacres  of  i860,  when  for  months  they  fed 


49^  Helps  and  Hindrances 

and  clothed  the  twenty  thousand  refugees  from  Damascus  and 
Lebanon  ;  Dr.  Van  Dyck,  in  translating  the  Bible  and  treating 
thousands  of  sufferers  from  the  virulent  eastern  ophthalmia ;  Dr. 
Post,  in  performing  marvellous  surgical  operations,  and  in  the  in- 
tervals of  leisure  making  a  concordance  of  the  Arabic  Bible  which 
cost  him  and  his  assistants  15,000  hours  of  labour  ;  Dr.  West, 
who  disarmed  the  bitter  hostility  of  Armenian  ecclesiastics  and 
Turkish  pashas,  and  won  them  to  friendship  by  the  patient  and 
skillful  use  of  his  high  medical  knowledge ;  Dr.  Osgood,  in  de- 
livering hundreds  of  despairing  victims  from  the  opium  curse  in 
China ;  Miss  Dr.  Howard,  in  successfully  treating  the  wife  of  Li 
Hung  Chang ;  Bishop  Patteson  and  his  colleagues,  in  teaching 
the  South  Sea  Islanders  the  simplest  arts  of  decency  in  clothing 
and  of  comfort  in  building  their  houses  ;  these  and  multitudes  of 
others  in  Asia,  Africa,  Europe,  America,  and  the  far-off  isles, 
have  truly  obeyed  the  Saviour's  last  command,  in  teaching  the 
Gospel,  by  living  the  Gospel  and  exhibiting  its  precious  fruits 
amid  famine  and  pestilence,  want  and  nakedness,  cannibalism  and 
savage  ferocity,  wars  and  massacres,  relieving  suffering,  healing 
disease,  instructing  ignorance  and  guiding  lost  men  to  a  Saviour. 

The  world  needs  the  Gospel  and  the  Gospel  needs  labourers  of 
every  kind ;  and  the  Gospel  needed  is  the  Gospel  in  its  purity 
and  entirety  ;  the  pure  word  of  God  with  its  converting  and 
sanctifying  power ;  not  a  Gospel  diluted  and  attenuated  to  suit 
an  enfeebled  sentiment,  nor  a  mutilated  Gospel,  but  the  Gospel  of 
salvation  by  faith  in  an  atoning  Saviour. 

The  world  is  groaning  under  the  burden  of  sin.  It  is  full  of 
colossal  systems  of  creature  worship,  of  propitiatory  sacrifices,  of 
self-torture,  of  pilgrimages,  of  bloody  rites,  of  burnt  offerings 
of  human  victims,  which  men,  in  the  dark  groping  of  their  un- 
rest, have  invented,  or  amid  the  wreck  of  ancient  traditions  have 
clutched  at  with  the  grip  of  despair,  to  satisfy  the  sense  of  de- 
served retribution  for  sin.  It  is  an  insult  to  the  moral  yearnings 
of  man's  nature  to  offer  him  such  a  stone,  when  he  is  dying  of 
hunger  for  bread.  Of  what  use  is  it  to  tell  the  pagan  or  the 
Mohammedan,  the  "  Barbarian  and  the  Scythian,"  that  we  have 


Marriage  to  Miss  Lock  wood  493 

crossed  seas  and  continents  burning  with  zeal  to  teach  them  the 
glorious  Gospel  of  uncertainty ;  to  enlist  recruits  in  the  army  of 
mighty  doubters ;  to  assure  them  that  there  is  nothing  sure ;  to 
tell  them  to  cultivate  their  consciousness,  if  perchance  they  may 
evolve  from  it  a  system  of  faith  which  will  stand  the  test  of  the 
microscope  and  the  crucible. 

When  human  hearts  are  aching  and  bleeding  over  sorrow  and 
sickness,  over  the  bereavements,  the  broken  hopes  and  racking 
anxieties  of  life,  and  struggling  with  sin  and  evil,  not  knowing 
whence  they  came  nor  whither  they  are  going,  what  mockery  to 
raise  their  hopes  of  relief  and  comfort,  and  then  drive  them  to  a 
deeper  misery  by  offering  such  a  diet  of  despair ! 

On  Wednesday  evening,  May  21,  1884,  I  presided  by  request 
of  Dr.  EUinwood  at  the  annual  foreign  mission  rally.  Four 
missionaries  were  to  speak.  A  programme  was  given  to  me  with 
the  directions,  "  no  speaker  to  exceed  ten  minutes."  When 
Dr.  Imbrie  of  Japan  arose  he  said  it  was  rather  hard  to  have 
an  ex-moderator  who  had  preached  an  hour  limit  us,  his 
brethren,  to  ten  minutes.  It  was  hard,  but  the  rule  was  inexorable 
and  the  speakers  succeeded  admirably  in  crowding  so  much  into, 
the  brief  allotted  time. 

On  the  23d  of  July,  1884,  I  was  married  by  Rev.  Dr.  G.  F. 
Nichols  of  Binghamton  to  Miss  Theodosia  Davenport  Lockwood, 
daughter  of  the  late  Rev.  Peter  Lockwood.  We  visited  Southamp- 
ton, L.  I.,  our  ancestral  home,  met  many  relatives,  and  saw  the 
houses  where  my  father  and  grandfather  were  born.  The  old 
graveyard  is  one  of  the  historic  spots  of  ancient  Long  Island.  It 
was  a  privilege  to  speak  in  the  old  Southampton  church  and 
meet  the  Fosters,  Posts,  and  Harrises,  We  drove  to  North  Sea 
and  picked  up  shells  on  the  beach  ;  just  such  shells  as  mother 
used  to  show  to  our  admiring  eyes  in  childhood's  days.  Aunt 
Harriet  Harris  gave  me  my  Grandfather  Henry  Harris's  family 
Bible,  a  portly  volume  of  the  olden  time,  and  we  visited  his  grave 
in  that  quaint,  quiet  old  country  village.  How  it  carried  me 
back  to  the  early  days,  when  father  and  mother  used  to  tell  us 
stories  of  the  •'  Island,"  the  Shinnecock  Indians,  the  return  of  the 


494  Helps  and  Hindrances 

whale-ships,  and  the  capture  of  whales  off  the  Southampton 
beach ! 

The  summer  was  spent  in  visiting  churches  in  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  and  New  Jersey,  and  preparing  for  the  journey  to 
Syria,  after  this  protracted  furlough. 

In  August,  Gabriel,  the  negro  man- of- all- work  of  my  brother, 
Judge  William  H,  Jessup,  told  us  that  he  had  met  an  old  man 
named  Safford,  a  carpenter,  who  told  him  that  when  a  young 
man  he  worked  on  building  father's  law  office,  and  father  came 
in,  stood  by  him  at  the  work-bench,  and  prayed  for  his  salvation, 
and  he  was  thus  led  to  begin  a  Christian  life. 

On  Sunday,  October  5th,  my  youngest  son  Frederick  Nevins 
aged  eight  years  and  ten  months  united  with  the  old  church  in 
Montrose,  thus  completing  the  number  of  my  eight  children  who 
are  members  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  It  was  a  joyous  day  to 
us  all. 

October  9th  we  all,  Mrs.  Jessup,  my  six  children  and  my 
brother  William's  daughter  May  who  accompanied  us  to  Syria, 
left  for  New  York  and  at  the  St.  Stephen's  Hotel  met  throngs  of 
old  friends.  One  New  York  pastor,  a  dear  friend  of  mine,  who 
six  months  before  had  sent  me  his  check  for  ;^  1,000,  said  to  me, 
"  Call  on  me  if  you  need  anything."  The  kindness  and  affection 
of  relatives  and  friends  quite  overcame  me.  I  went  once  more 
to  speak  to  the  students  of  Union  Seminary,  in  company  with  my 
brother  William  and  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell.  My  two  older  sons 
William  and  Henry  came  on  from  Princeton  to  bid  us  good-bye. 

Saturday,  October  nth,  we  sailed  on  the  Britannic ior  Liverpool, 
arriving  on  the  19th.  Mr.  A.  Balfour  of  Liverpool  met  us  and 
invited  us  to  his  house  in  Rosset.  Four  of  the  party  accepted 
his  invitation  and  went  out  for  the  night.  We  visited  Chester 
Cathedral  and  met  Dean  Howson,  who  once  preached  for  us  in 
Beirut.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Balfour  were  most  abounding  in  their  kind 
hospitahty.  Being  engaged  in  trade  with  Valparaiso,  he  was  a 
warm  friend  of  Dr.  Trumbull,  the  American  missionary,  and  was 
a  liberal  supporter  of  the  missionary  work  of  our  church.  Mr. 
Balfour  died  in  June,  1886,  greatly  lamented  and  honoured. 


Home  Again — A  New  Era  Begun  495 

On  reaching  London,  we  found  that,  owing  to  cholera  in 
Southern  France,  we  could  not  take  steamer  from  Marseilles,  so 
we  were  obliged  to  take  the  Orient  Express  from  Paris  to  Varna 
on  the  Black  Sea.  We  were  quarantined  in  the  Austrian  steamer 
Flora,  five  days  at  Kavak  in  the  Bosphorus  in  a  cold  rain-storm. 
We  were  met  and  welcomed  to  the  houses  of  the  missionaries  in 
Scutari,  Drs.  Wood,  Isaac  G.  Bliss,  and  Elias  Riggs.  Our  stay- 
in  Constantinople  was  only  forty- eight  hours  and  it  rained  con- 
stantly. Yet  I  was  able  to  visit  the  Bible  House,  Robert  College, 
and  the  Girls'  College  in  Scutari.  On  leaving  our  anchorage, 
November  13th,  at  5  :  30  p.  m.,  the  rudder  chain  broke,  east  of 
Seraglio  Point  and  the  steamer  was  driven  by  the  swift  current 
directly  towards  the  rocks.  There  was  great  excitement  on 
board  but  by  a  merciful  Providence  the  chain  was  mended  and 
the  ship  got  under  control  when,  apparently,  not  200  feet  from 
the  rocks. 

In  Smyrna  we  called  on  the  missionaries,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bartlett, 
Miss  Page,  Miss  Lord,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Constantine. 

November  21st  we  reached  Beirut  at  sunrise  and  were  met  by 
brother  Samuel,  his  son  and  daughter,  and  Drs,  Bliss,  Eddy, 
Post,  Dennis,  and  a  crowd  of  Syrian  friends.  It  was  indeed 
"  home  again  from  a  foreign  shore."  The  harness  was  soon 
buckled  on  and  my  ordinary  work  in  preaching  and  theological 
teaching  resumed.  November  30th  I  preached  in  Arabic  and 
Bishop  Hannington  of  Uganda  in  English,  and  at  the  Sunday- 
school  in  the  afternoon  I  translated  his  address  to  the  Sunday- 
school  children. 

The  annual  meeting  in  December  was  attended  by  Rev.  Dr.  H. 
A.  Nelson  and  his  son  William.  His  daughter  Bessie  was  at 
that  time  connected  with  the  Syria  Mission  and  his  son  William 
joined  it  in  August,  1888,  It  may  be  helpful  to  take  a  glance  at 
the  personnel  of  the  mission  at  this  time ;  the  beginning  of  what 
might  be  called  the  new  era  in  the  mission  and  college. 

In  Beirut  were  Dr.  C.  V.  A.  Van  Dyck,  Dr.  W.  W.  Eddy, 
Dr.  H.  H.  Jessup,  Dr.  S.  Jessup,  Dr.  J.  S,  Dennis  and  their  wives  ; 
Rev.  S.  Jessup  had  charge  of  the  mission  press,  accounts,  and 


496  Helps  and  Hindrances 

custom-house  work.  The  others  had  their  portion  of  teaching 
the  theological  class,  editing,  literary  and  evangeUstic  work.  The 
female  seminary  was  in  charge  of  Miss  Everett,  Miss  Jackson's 
resignation  having  taken  effect  in  July  previous. 

The  instruction  in  the  theological  class  was  given  as  follows  : 
Natural  Theology  and  Old  Testament  Exegesis,  Dr.  C.  V.  A. 
Van  Dyck ;  Systematic  Theology,  Dr.  J.  S.  Dennis ;  New  Testa- 
ment Exegesis,  Dr.  W.  W.  Eddy  ;  Church  History,  Homiletics, 
and  Pastoral  Theology,  Dr.  H.  H.  Jessup  ;  Scripture  Interpreta- 
tion, Mr.  Rizzuk  Berbari. 

The  instruction  was  in  Arabic.  It  had  been  hoped  that  enough 
college  graduates  and  others  familiar  with  the  English  language 
would  be  found  to  warrant  using  only  English  text-books.  This 
was  tried  with  one  class  of  five,  but  three  of  them  left  for  America, 
and  were  lost  to  the  work  in  Syria  for  which  they  were  trained. 
Since  that  time  the  instruction  has  been  almost  entirely  in  Arabic. 

In  Abeih  station  were  Rev.  Messrs.  Bird  (Abeih),  Pond  (Shem- 
lan)  and  their  wives,  with  Miss  Bird  ;  and  Mrs.  and  Miss  Calhoun 
in  Shwifat,  working  among  the  women  and  conducting  a  girls' 
day-school. 

In  Sidon  station  were  Rev.  W.  K.  Eddy,  Rev.  George  A,  Ford 
and  his  mother.  In  the  Sidon  Seminary  were  Misses  Harriette 
Eddy,  Bessie  Nelson  and  Sarah  Ford. 

In  Zahleh  station,  Mr.  Greenlee ;  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Gerald  F. 
Dale  being  in  America  on  furlough. 

In  Tripoli  station  were  Rev.  Messrs.  March  and  Hardin  and 
their  wives,  and  Dr.  Harris.  Miss  La  Grange  and  Miss  Holmes 
had  charge  of  the  Tripoli  Girls'  School. 

In  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  were  Drs.  Daniel  Bliss,  Post, 
Porter,  Kay,  Dight,  Fisher,  Messrs.  West,  Martin,  and  Giroux; 
Mr.  Hoskins,  who  afterwards  entered  the  mission,  was  principal 
of  the  preparatory  department. 

In  February,  1885,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Harris  and  daughter  Elsie  re- 
turned from  America.  April  20th  Dr.  H.  A.  Nelson  married  his 
daughter  Bessie  to  Rev.  Wm.  K.  Eddy  and  immediately  sailed  for 
America  with  Mrs.  Calhoun,  her  daughter  Susan,  her  grand- 


Touring  with  Colonel  Shepard  497 

daughters  Agnes  and  Helen  Danforth  and  Mrs.  Ford  and  her 
daughter  Sarah. 

Four  young  men  graduated  from  the  theological  class  at  the 
commencement  in  June. 

April  1 6th  Col.  Elhott  F.  Shepard  of  New  York  came  to  Beirut 
and  asked  that  Dr.  Van  Dyck  accompany  him  to  Damascus  and 
Jerusalem.  As  Dr.  Van  Dyck  was  unable  to  travel  he  referred 
him  to  me.  I  did  not  see  how  I  could  be  absent  so  long,  but 
after  he  reached  Damascus  he  telegraphed  me  that  he  had  hired 
animals,  a  dragoman,  tents,  and  a  palanquin,  for  Mrs.  Jessup  and 
myself  to  accompany  him  April  23d  on  a  tour  via  Sidon,  Tyre, 
and  Nazareth  to  Jerusalem  !  The  brethren  advised  us  to  go  and 
we  went,  and  had  a  most  prosperous  and  instructive  journey. 
Colonel  Shepard  was  a  delightful  companion  and  it  was  a  pleas- 
ure to  tell  him  of  the  sacred  sites  we  visited.  At  every  town 
where  there  was  an  international  telegraph  office  he  telegraphed 
to  his  family  in  Switzerland. 

The  moonlight  ride  down  the  mountain  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee 
and  the  sail  on  the  sea  on  April  30th,  were  events  not  to  be  for- 
gotten. We  were  seven  hours  on  the  Lake  of  Tiberias  and  the 
heat  was  intense.  Near  Capernaum  we  saw  a  Bedawy  wading 
among  the  great  stones  near  the  shore  and  catching  fish  with  his 
hands.  Colonel  Shepard  at  once  bought  the  fish.  Daiid  the 
dragoman  kindled  a  fire  and  we  broiled  them  on  the  coals  and 
ate  them  for  our  lunch.  The  Colonel  was  much  affected  by  the 
thought  that  near  this  very  spot  our  Lord  provided  a  similar  re- 
past for  His  disciples.  Colonel  Shepard  was  a  thoroughly  relig- 
ious man,  a  careful  Bible  student,  and  a  strict  observer  of  the 
Sabbath.  We  spent  a  Sunday  at  Tyre.  Dr.  Ford,  an  old  fellow 
worker  with  the  Colonel  in  New  York  City  mission  work,  after 
preaching  in  the  village  of  Alma  in  the  morning,  rode  down  to 
Tyre,  about  four  hours  in  the  saddle,  to  aid  in  the  evening  serv- 
ice. Colonel  Shepard  quite  took  him  to  task  for  Sunday  travel, 
and  he  was  hardly  satisfied  with  our  explanation  of  the  need  of 
Dr.  Ford's  help  in  the  union  meeting  in  Tyre.  He  was  a  genial 
companion,  of  generous  impulses  and  large  liberality.     Seeing  the 


498  Helps  and  Hindrances 

utterly  meagre  furniture  of  Dr.  Ford's  room  in  Tyre,  he  ordered 
Daud  the  dragoman  to  go  to  the  furniture  shop  and  buy  chairs, 
tables,  bureau,  and  bookcase,  etc.  We  all  told  the  Colonel  that 
in  this  abject  town  of  Tyre  there  were  no  furniture  shops  and  not 
a  chair  for  sale.  But  he  insisted,  and  Daiad  went  to  the  private 
house  of  a  Tyrian  merchant  and  bought  out  his  stock  of  furniture 
without  regard  to  expense,  at  which  the  Colonel  was  greatly  grat- 
ified. 

Nazareth,  Samaria,  Bethel,  Jerusalem,  and  Bethlehem  were  full 
of  interest.  Dr.  Merrill,  our  consul  in  Jerusalem,  was  most  at- 
tentive and  gave  us  valuable  instruction  on  the  sacred  sites.  We 
parted  with  the  Colonel  with  sincere  regrets  and  returned  to  Beirut 
May  13th. 

On  his  way  to  Beirut  he  had  visited  Tarsus  and  resolved  to 
found  an  institute  there  as  a  memorial  to  St.  Paul.  While  in 
Paris,  on  his  way  home,  he  learned  that  the  sum  of  ^6,000  had 
been  cut  off  from  the  usual  appropriation  to  the  Syria  Mission, 
whereupon  he  at  once  sent  his  check  for  that  amount,  filling  the 
hearts  of  the  missionaries  and  Syrian  helpers  with  joy  and  grati- 
tude and  a  suitable  letter  of  thanks  was  sent  him  by  the  mission. 
At  a  later  day,  we  informed  him  that  the  Misk  property  adjoin- 
ing the  American  Mission  Church  in  Beirut  was  for  sale  and  he 
promptly  sent  on,  September  8,  1887,  his  check  for  ^7,000,  by 
which  aid,  after  waiting  seventeen  years,  we  have  been  able  to 
buy  that  land  and  thus  complete  the  mission  property  in  Beirut 
in  the  most  satisfactory  manner  and  furnish  a  convenient  manse 
for  the  native  Syrian  pastor. 

In  1886  he  consummated  his  scheme  for  a  St.  Paul's  Institute 
in  Tarsus  and  in  his  will  endowed  it  with  ;^  100,000.  It  is  doing 
a  truly  Pauline  work  in  Cilicia.  His  name  will  never  be  forgot- 
ten in  Syria.  The  bronze  tablet  sent  out  by  Mrs.  Shepard  now 
shows  the  passer-by  "  The  Elliott  F.  Shepard  Manse  "  as  one  of 
the  permanent  Protestant  buildings  in  Beirut. 

October  7,  1885,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  G.  F.  Dale,  Misses  Ahce  S. 
Barber,  and  Rebecca  and  Charlotte  Brown  reached  Beirut  harbour 
and  spent  six  days  in  quarantine  before  landing.     Miss  Barber 


Death  of  Gerald  F.  Dale 


499 


entered  the  Beirut  Girls'  School  and  the  Misses  Brown  the  school 
in  Sidon. 

November  27th  there  was  a  brilliant  meteoric  shower  of  Leonids 
lasting  from  6  to  12  p.  m.  ;  almost  equal  to  the  marvellous  display 
of  November  14,  1866.  The  ignorant  part  of  the  native  popula- 
tion, especially  the  Moslems,  were  filled  with  terror. 

The  year  1886  brought  a  threefold  sorrow  to  the  mission  in 
Syria,  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Rizzuk  Berbari  and  Mr.  John  Effendi 
Abcarius  in  Beirut  and  Rev.  Gerald  F,  Dale  in  Zahleh. 

Mr.  Berbari,  known  as  Muallim  Rizzuk,  was  fifty  years  old  and 
had  been  a  teacher  thirty-three  years  in  Abeih  with  Mr.  Calhoun, 
and  in  Beirut  with  Dr.  Dennis.  He  was  a  thoughtful,  scholarly, 
industrious,  and  faithful  man.  His  home  was  a  model  Christian 
home  and  his  children  prove  the  value  of  the  godly  training  of 
their  father  and  mother.  His  great  modesty  only  prevented  his 
becoming  the  pastor  of  the  Beirut  church.  He  was  the  transla- 
tor and  editor  of  various  useful  Arabic  books.  He  died  February 
1 6th,  greatly  lamented. 

Mr.  John  Abcarius  was  the  finest  specimen  of  a  refined  Christian 
gentleman  I  have  known  in  Syria.  He  was  the  son  of  an  Ar- 
menian Protestant,  was  trained  in  the  mission  schools,  engaged  in 
business  in  Egypt,  and  served  as  dragoman  of  H.  B.  M.  consul- 
general  in  Beirut  for  years.  Having  acquired  wealth,  he  was  the 
most  liberal  giver  in  the  Protestant  community.  His  word  was 
never  questioned.  His  sterling  integrity  was  an  example  and  a 
proverb  among  the  people.  He  was  sound  in  judgment  and  in 
the  trying  times  in  the  Beirut  church  he  never  flinched  in  his  de- 
votion to  the  cause  of  order  and  discipline.  Had  he  lived  a  few 
years  longer  it  is  probable  that  the  sad  schism  in  the  Beirut 
church  would  never  have  taken  place.  He  translated  various 
works  into  Arabic  and  prepared  an  English-Arabic  dictionary 
which  is  the  standard  work  of  that  character  for  both  Syria  and 
Fgypt.     His  memory  is  very  precious  to  me. 

But  to  us  the  most  bitter  affliction  of  1886  was  the  death  in 
Zahleh,  October  6th,  of  Rev.  Gerald  F.  Dale,  Jr.,  after  fourteen 
years  of  labour  in  Syria. 


500  Helps  and  Hindrances 

He  was  a  rare  and  beautiful  character.  Dr.  Hodge  of  Prince- 
ton described  him  as  "  the  model  gentleman,  the  model  Chris- 
tian and  the  model  scholar  of  Princeton."  And  he  became  the 
model  missionary,  courteous,  kind,  patient,  prayerful,  studious, 
progressive,  a  church  organizer,  and  a  church  builder,  and  be- 
loved by  the  people.  During  the  cholera  epidemic  in  Sughbin 
in  July,  1875,  he  went  to  the  village,  took  medicines  to  the  sick, 
and  administered  them,  cheered  the  despondent,  taught  the 
native  preacher  how  to  use  the  "  Hamlin  Mixture "  and  the 
plague  was  stayed.  His  name  is  revered  throughout  the  Zahleh 
and  Baalbec  field  to  this  day  and  his  death  in  October,  1886, 
was  one  of  those  sudden  and  paralyzing  blows  of  the  Father's 
afflictive  rod  which  baffles  our  feeble  understanding. 

April  16,  1879,  he  was  married  in  Beirut  to  Miss  Mary  Bliss, 
only  daughter  of  Rev.  Dr.  Bliss,  president  of  the  Syrian  Protes- 
tant College.  For  seven  years  he  kept  bachelor's  hall  in  Zahleh, 
and  for  seven  years  had  a  happy  married  life  in  a  home  bright- 
ened with  domestic  love  and  abounding  in  loving  hospitality.  In 
preaching,  teaching,  organizing  churches,  counselling  the  people, 
and  settling  their  quarrels  he  was  an  acknowledged  leader  in 
Zahleh  and  the  whole  region  of  the  Bookaa  from  Mount  Hermon 
to  Ras  Baalbec. 

He  was  a  remarkable  man.  He  at  the  same  time  enforced 
your  respect  by  his  lofty  motives  and  high  character,  won  your 
love  by  his  gentle  and  winning  ways,  and  awakened  your  aston- 
ishment at^  his  extraordinary  zeal  and  capacity  for  work.  The 
first  text  which  flashed  on  my  mind  when  the  sad  telegram 
reached  us  was  "  the  zeal  of  thy  house  hath  eaten  me  up."  He 
was  literally  on  fire  with  burning  zeal.  His  name  was  a  watch- 
word on  every  side.  Corrupt  government  officials  feared  his 
stern  integrity,  the  poor  and  oppressed  loved  him,  and  scores  of 
young  men  and  women  whom  he  selected  and  put  in  the  way  of 
acquiring  an  education  looked  upon  him  as  a  benefactor.  He 
could  go  into  a  Turkish  court  and  defend  the  rights  of  the  perse- 
cuted and  oppressed  and  the  wily  officials  would  quail  before 
hinj.     And  he  would  take  a  Httle  child  by  the  hand,  pat  her  on 


Mr.  Dale's  Lovely  Character  ^oi 

the  head,  ask  her  name,  and  win  her  little  heart.  He  was  a  fine 
preacher  in  Arabic,  a  true  and  trusty  friend,  a  loving  and  beloved 
brother,  and  won  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the  natives  all 
over  Syria  where  he  was  known. 

Dr.  Eddy  wrote :  "  He  was  a  beloved  and  honoured  Christian 
brother,  a  most  untiring  Christian  worker,  an  enthusiastic  mis- 
sionary having  faith  in  man  and  large  hopes  in  the  results  of 
labour ;  fertile  in  resources,  genial  in  intercourse  with  all  men, 
conciliatory  in  manner,  making  friends  and  keeping  them." 

Dr.  Dennis  wrote  :  "  He  was  a  strong  and  earnest  missionary, 
and  he  loved  his  field  with  a  perfect  passion.  Through  summer 
heat  and  winter  cold,  in  rain  and  mud,  in  snow  and  sleet,  in 
withering  siroccos  as  well  as  in  the  bright  and  glorious  sunshine 
of  that  fair  garden  of  Ccele-Syria,  he  was  in  the  saddle  visiting 
his  parish  and  watching  over  his  spiritual  charge." 

Dr.  George  Ford  wrote :  "  I  am  touched  by  the  sorrowful 
exclamations  of  our  Syrian  brethren.  Even  those  who  knew 
him  but  slightly  declare,  '  He  was  wonderful.  Never  have 
we  seen  such  untiring  devotion  and  holy  zeal  as  his.'  In  our 
devotional  meetings  his  words  were  always  aflame  with  holy  fire, 
and  his  prayers  those  of  one  eminently  a  man  of  God,  or  to  use 
his  own  favourite  expression,  '  waiting  upon  God.' 

"  He  was  most  sincere,  yet  most  sanguine.  He  was  no  less 
remarkable  for  gentleness  than  for  energy,  for  superb  push  than 
for  conspicuous  modesty.  His  severity  was  always  kind,  and 
his  friendliness  always  dignified." 

The  cause  of  his  death  was  a  malignant  pustule  whose  nature 
was  not  understood  until  too  late.  On  the  day  before  his  death 
Dr.  Bliss  left  Zahleh  for  Beirut  and  stopped  at  the  house  of  Dr. 
Dennis  in  Aleih  to  rest.  He  reported  Mr.  Dale  about  the 
same,  and  Mrs.  Dale  confined  to  her  room  with  an  infant 
daughter,  Geraldine,  three  days  old.  That  very  evening  came  a 
telegram  from  Zahleh  of  Mr.  Dale's  critical  condition.  A  similar 
telegram  was  sent  to  Dr.  Post  in  Beirut  buJ:  owing  to  the  in- 
efficiency of  the  telegraph  employees  it  was  twelve  hours  in 
going  twenty-seven  miles.     Dr.  Post   and  Dr.  Bliss  set  out   at 


3*02  Helps  and  Hindrances 

midnight  and  rode  over  Lebanon  as  fast  as  their  horses  could  go, 
but  reached  Zahleh  just  too  late.  He  had  fallen  asleep  at  4 :  30 
A.  M.  They  wired  us  and  we  joined  them  at  the  Aleih  junction, 
and  as  the  last  rays  of  the  setting  sun  gilded  the  tops  of  the 
cypresses  we  laid  him  to  rest  in  the  old  mission  cemetery  in 
Beirut,  where  his  little  daughter  Carrie  Lyon  was  laid  beside  him 
only  six  days  after. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Syrian  Mission  held  after  his  death, 
February  10,  1887,  the  Mission  Memorial  Minute  expressed 
"  their  profound  sorrow  at  the  death  of  a  fellow  missionary  so 
greatly  beloved  and  so  eminently  useful.  Mr.  Dale  had  been 
identified  with  the  Zahleh  station  during  his  whole  missionary 
hfe  of  fourteen  years.  He  was  a  man  of  prayer,  of  great  zeal  and 
earnestness,  fully  consecrated  to  the  work.  He  had  impressed 
his  spirit  on  many  of  those  brought  under  his  influence,  and  his 
memory  throughout  the  mission  is  blessed.  He  had  strong 
faith,  was  buoyant  and  sanguine,  cheerful  and  hopeful  even  amid 
the  hours  of  great  difficulty  and  trial.  His  death  is  a  loss  to  us 
as  a  mission  and  as  individuals." 

I  ■  often  recall  my  visits  to  him  in  his  bachelor  days  in  Zahleh. 
Once  it  was  midwinter.  The  narrow  streets  were  piled  high 
with  snow  shovelled  from  the  roofs  and  it  was  bitterly  cold.  He 
did  not  feel  the  cold  and  had  only  a  small  stove  in  one  room  of 
his  house.  His  dining-room  was  open  on  one  side  and  I  sat 
at  the  table  in  my  overcoat  and  shawl  with  the  mercury  at  freez- 
ing point,  and  while  I  shivered  with  the  cold  he  did  not  seem  to 
notice  it. 

His  death  left  such  a  burden  of  responsibility  upon  Mr.  Green- 
lee, who  had  been  but  three  years  on  the  field  and  who  was 
nervously  worn  out  by  excessive  night  study,  that  Mr.  J.  R. 
Jewett,  a  student  of  the  Semitic  languages  in  Beirut,  was  invited 
to  assist  him,  and  on  Mr.  Greenlee's  leaving  for  America  in  1887, 
Dr.  Dennis  and  Mr.  March  took  charge  of  the  station  assisted 
by  Mr.  Ford.  During  Mr.  Dale's  term  of  service  church  edifices 
had  been  erected  in  Zahleh,  Moallaka,  Kefr  Zebed,  Baalbec, 
Sughbin,   Aitaneet,   and   Meshghara.     He   had   also  planned  a 


Zahleh  Remanned — Government  Oppression      503 

boys'  boarding-school,  and  was  preparing  to  open  it  when  he 
was  stung  by  that  poisonous  fly  which  cost  him  his  Hfe. 

In  1888  Rev.  F.  E.  Hoskins  was  stationed  in  Zahleh,  having 
married  Miss  H.  M.  Eddy  of  the  Sidon  Girls'  School,  and  in 
November,  1890,  they  were  joined  by  Rev.  William  Jessup  and 
Mrs.  Jessup.  On  the  transfer  of  Mr.  Hoskins,  October,  1900, 
to  Beirut,  Rev.  George  C.  Doolittle  was  called  to  Zahleh  from 
Deir  el  Komr. 

Misses  R.  Brown  and  Emily  Bird  gave  instruction  in  the  Trip- 
oli Girls'  School  in  the  absence  on  furlough  of  Miss  La  Grange. 
Mrs.  H.  H.  Jessup  was  absent  five  months  in  America  having 
attended  the  dying  bed  of  her  mother.  D.  Stuart  Dodge  Jessup 
went  with  her  to  America  to  pursue  his  studies. 

At  this  time  the  repressive  measures  of  the  imperial  author- 
ities against  Protestant  schools,  hospitals,  and  churches,  became 
so  pronounced  and  open  that  seventy-one  missionaries  and  teach- 
ers petitioned  the  ambassadors  to  obtain  a  suspension  of  this 
official  persecution  of  Protestantism. 

The  facts  were  recited  in  a  pamphlet  of  twenty-one  pages,  and 
the  different  forms  of  aggression  were  classified  under,  1st,  Inter- 
ference with  the  personal  work  of  the  missionaries  themselves  ; 
2d,  Interference  with  the  building  of  the  churches  ;  3d,  With  the 
rights  of  religious  worship  ;  4th,  With  schools  ;  5th,  With  hos- 
pital work ;  6th,  A  virtual  prohibition  of  the  right  of  petition. 

After  long  conference  between  the  ambassadors  and  H.  E. 
Munif  Pasha,  Minister  of  PubHc  Instruction,  His  Excellency  issued 
orders  recognizing  all  existing  schools  and  forbidding  interfer- 
ence with  them.  But  the  animus  of  the  authorities  towards  all 
foreign  institutions  is  that  of  suspicion  and  obstruction.  For- 
merly this  suspicion  was  confined  to  those  of  the  European  Pow- 
ers, as  America  was  known  to  have  no  political  designs  on  Turkey, 
but  latterly  it  has  assumed  an  anti-Christian  phase  which  is  far 
more  dangerous  not  only  to  religious  liberty  but  also  to  the  peace 
of  society. 

In  December,  1886,  the  Suk  el  Gharb  church  edifice  was  ded- 
icated to  the  worship  of  God.     The  devotional  services  were 


504  Helps  and  Hindrances 

conducted  by  Messrs.  Bird  and  Pond,  and  the  sermon  was 
preached  by  H.  H.  Jessup.  Since  the  growth  of  the  Suk  Boys' 
Boarding-School,  this  church  has  been  crowded  for  nine  months 
of  the  year,  and  as  Rev.  Beshara  Barudi  is  its  ordained  pastor,  it 
occupies  a  centre  of  great  influence  in  Lebanon. 

In  November  we  were  horrified  by  the  news  that  a  Moslem 
woman  of  the  family  of  Aitany  in  our  quarter  of  Beirut  had 
killed  herself  because  she  gave  birth  to  a  girl  after  having  had 
five  sons.  A  few  years  before  a  man  of  the  same  sect  committed 
suicide  because  of  the  birth  of  his  seventh  daughter.  This  feel- 
ing is  common  among  the  Moslems  and  among  Asiatics  gener- 
ally. The  birth  of  a  girl  is  a  calamity  and  even  among  the 
Maronites  they  say  "  the  threshold  weeps  forty  days  when  a  girl 
is  born." 

In  December  there  was  a  new  outburst  of  official  interference 
with  the  Arabic  Scriptures,  Seven  boxes  of  vowelled  Arabic 
Scriptures  were  sent  to  the  custom-house  to  be  shipped  to  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  in  London.  We  usually  had 
no  difficulty  in  shipping  books.  All  books  entering  the  empire 
were  examined  by  the  censor,  and  if  objected  to  were  either  con- 
fiscated or  sent  back  to  Europe  or  America.  But  the  shipping 
of  books  out  of  the  empire,  especially  as  all  our  publications  had 
the  stamp  of  the  imperial  approval,  met  with  no  opposition.  But 
these  seven  boxes  were  seized  and  the  mudir  declared  that  their 
export  was  forbidden.  For  ten  days  we  were  kept  running  to 
the  pasha  and  the  American  consul,  until  finally  by  telegraphing 
to  Constantinople  we  secured  orders  for  the  shipment  of  the 
boxes.  This  act  was  one  of  thousands  of  similar  cases  in  which 
petty  officials  try  to  extort  bribes  and  blackmail  from  all  who  fall 
into  their  hands. 

The  prohibition  of  certain  books,  as  e.  g.,  those  on  Turkey, 
Syria,  Mohammed,  Islam,  the  Sultan,  etc.,  amounts  to  nothing,  as 
any  book  on  any  subject  can  be  imported  by  the  British,  French, 
German,  or  Austrian  mails.  Several  times  the  Turkish  censor, 
after  ordering  a  certain  book  to  be  reshipped  to  England  or 
America,  has  asked  me  to  order  that  same  book  to  be  imported 


Ancient  Pottery  Made  to  Order  505 

for  him  through  the  British  post.  But  for  these  foreign  post- 
offices,  all  Europeans  would  be  virtually  cut  off  from  news  of  the 
outside  world,  as  letters  and  papers  would  be  opened  and  read 
and  in  many  cases  destroyed.  As  it  is,  Europeans  or  Americans 
in  the  interior  can  get  few,  if  any,  foreign  newspapers.  Some  of 
the  Turkish  officials,  who  desire  universal  reform,  are  trying  tcJ 
improve  the  system,  but  as  long  as  suspicion  and  espionage  con- 
tinue, the  European  governments  will  not  surrender  their  post- 
offices. 

In  February,  in  compliance  with  orders  from  the  Waly  of  Da- 
mascus, we  sent  samples  of  all  our  Arabic  publications  to  Damas- 
cus for  examination  and  approval  by  the  Mudir  el  Maarif,  or 
director  of  public  instruction.  Some  months  after,  the  mudir 
came  to  our  press  and  asked  to  see  all  our  publications.  They 
were  all  laid  out  on  tables  and  he  examined  them  and  placed  on 
every  one  the  seal  of  approbation.  Since  that  time  we  have  had 
to  send  to  Constantinople  two  manuscript  copies  of  every  book 
to  be  printed.  After  correction  and  sometimes  mutilation  by  the 
imperial  Mejlis,  one  copy  is  returned  to  us  for  printing.  After 
printing  and  before  pubhcation  a  printed  copy  must  be  mailed  to 
Constantinople  for  comparison  and  woe  to  the  press  that  varies 
in  printing  from  the  corrected  copy  !  This  same  precautionary 
process  must  be  gone  through  with  by  every  daily,  weekly,  and 
monthly  journal,  a  proof  being  sent  to  the  local  censor  for  ex- 
amination. 

In  February  when  on  a  visit  to  Sidon,  Mr,  W.  K.  Eddy  told 
me  of  the  brisk  business  carried  on  in  Sidon  in  the  manufacture 
of  fraudulent  Phoenician  inscriptions,  statuettes,  vases,  lamps,  etc., 
made  in  the  city  and  sent  to  the  villages  to  be  buried  in  the 
earth  and  then  dug  up  and  brought  in  for  sale  by  cameleers  hired 
for  the  purpose  and  fully  in  the  secret.  Innocent  travellers  are 
accosted  by  these  impostors  on  the  highways  and  pay  high  prices 
for  the  wonderful  antiques.  They  are  so  well  made  as  to  deceive 
the  very  elect. 

I  went  with  Mr.  Eddy  to  Mejdeluna  and  Jiin  for  Sunday  serv- 
ices and  communion.     We  had  good  congregations.     In  the  first 


5o6  Helps  and  Hindrances 

village  the  house  of  the  elder  was  built  in  the  old-fashioned  style. 
At  one  end  of  the  room  we  could  see  the  heads  of  the  horned 
cattle  eating  from  the  manger,  which  was  a  trough  extending 
along  the  sides  of  the  room.  The  floor  of  the  cattle-room  was 
lower  than  the  floor  of  the  sitting-room,  so  that  the  heads  of  the 
cattle  were  in  plain  sight  and  they  looked  at  us,  eating  their 
barley  and  straw  with  great  calmness.  One  could  see  plainly 
how  easy  it  was  for  Mary  to  lay  the  infant  Jesus  in  such  a 
manger,  and  Joseph  no  doubt  kept  the  '•  horned  oxen  "  back 
while  Mary  watched  over  her  child. 

In  Jun  we  visited  the  ruined  house  and  grave  of  Lady  Hester 
Stanhope,  whose  eccentric  career  is  described  by  Dr.  Thomson 
in  "  The  Land  and  the  Book."  The  grave  has  been  plowed  over 
again  and  again  until  it  is  hardly  discernible. 

In  Sidon  I  addressed  the  girls  of  the  boarding-school,  returning 
the  next  day  to  Beirut. 

On  the  14th  of  March  a  letter  came  from  Mr.  Eddy  of  a  won- 
derful discovery  in  Sidon  of  ancient  tombs,  containing  some  white 
polished  marble  sarcophagi  of  exquisite  beauty  and  marvellous 
sculpture.  Mr.  Eddy  had  been  into  the  tombs  hewn  in  the  soHd 
rock  thirty  feet  below  the  surface  and  had  measured  and  de- 
scribed all  the  sarcophagi  of  white  and  black  marble  with  scien- 
tific exactness.  On  the  21st  Dr.  Eddy  received  from  his  son  an 
elaborate  report  on  the  discovery  which  was  intended  to  be  sent 
to  his  brother  Dr.  Condit  Eddy  in  New  Rochelle.  I  obtained 
permission  to  make  a  copy  for  transmission  to  Dr.  William 
Wright  of  London,  and  sent  it  by  mail  the  next  day.  Dr.  Wright 
sent  it  to  the  London  Times  with  a  note  in  which  he  expressed 
the  hope  that  the  authorities  of  the  British  Museum  would  "  take 
immediate  measures  to  secure  these  treasures  and  prevent  their 
falling  into  the  hands  of  the  vandal  Turk." 

The  Times  reached  Constantinople.  Now  it  happened  that 
the  department  of  antiquities  at  that  time  as  now  was  under  the 
charge  of  Hamdi  Beg,  a  man  educated  in  Paris,  an  artist,  an 
engineer,  and  well  up  in  archaeology.  When  he  saw  that  article 
of  Mr.  Eddy's  in  the  Times  and  Dr.  Wright's  letter,  he  said  to 


SARCOPHAGUS  OF  ALEXANDER  THE  GREAT,  SIDON 
SARCOPHAGUS  OF  THE  WEEPING  WOMEN,  SIDON 


The  Wonderful  Fluid  in  the  Sarcophagus        507 

himself  (as  he  afterwards  told  us),  "  I'll  show  what  the  •  Vandal 
Turk '  can  do  !  " 

He  at  once  telegraphed  to  the  Governor  of  Sidon  to  place  a 
cordon  of  police  around  the  tomb  and  allow  no  one  to  enter  it 
until  he  should  arrive.  On  April  29th  he  came.  He  called  on 
Mr.  Eddy  and  Dr.  Ford  and  set  about  the  removal  of  those 
priceless  treasures  of  Greek  and  Phoenician  sculpture.  Dressed 
like  a  common  navvy  in  a  blouse  and  heavy  shoes,  he  superin- 
tended the  cutting  of  a  tunnel  from  the  orange  gardens  to  the 
floor  of  those  subterranean  rock-hewn  rooms,  built  a  tramway, 
rolled  out  the  colossal  sarcophagi  to  the  gardens,  and  then  built 
his  tramway  down  to  the  seashore  where  he  constructed  a  wharf 
on  piles.  He  then  brought  a  steamer  from  Constantinople,  had 
a  large  opening  made  in  its  side,  floated  the  huge  blocks,  encased 
in  wrappings  and  boxed,  to  the  side  of  the  steamer,  drew  them 
into  the  hold,  and  carried  them  away  triumphant  to  Constanti- 
nople, where  they  remain  in  the  museum,  the  admiration  of  the 
learned  and  unlearned  tourists  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  One 
of  them  is  supposed  to  be  the  sarcophagus  of  Alexander  the 
Great.  Mr.  W.  K.  Eddy  deserves  the  credit  of  having  first  made 
them  known,  before  the  antiquity  hunting  vandals  of  Sidon  had 
broken  them  to  pieces.  As  it  was,  one  of  the  exquisitely  carved 
statuettes  was  broken  and  the  fragments  offered  for  sale,  but  it 
was  finally  secured  for  Hamdi  Beg. 

A  company  of  men  and  ladies  from  Beirut  rode  down  on 
horseback  May  i8th  to  Sidon,  and  Hamdi  Beg  was  most 
courteous  in  showing  us  the  entire  collection,  those  in  the  tombs 
and  those  already  in  the  gardens.  One  day  his  patience  was 
greatly  tried.  One  sarcophagus,  when  the  lid  was  opened,  con- 
tained a  human  body  floating  in  perfect  preservation  in  a 
peculiar  fluid.  The  flesh  was  soft  and  perfect  in  form  and 
colour.  But,  alas,  while  Hamdi  Beg  was  at  lunch,  the  over- 
officious  Arab  workmen  overturned  it  and  spilled  all  the  precious 
fluid  on  the  sand.  The  beg's  indignation  knew  no  bounds,  but 
it  was  too  late  and  the  body  could  not  be  preserved,  and  the  secret 
of  the  wonderful  fluid  was  again  hidden  in  the  Sidon  sand. 


XXII 

Mission  Schools 

Girls'  schools  at  Sidon  and  Tripoli — The  Gerard  Institute — The 
school  at  Suk  el  Gharb — Mount  Lebanon  Hospital  for  the  Insane. 

SIX  other  boarding-schools  connected  with  the  Presby- 
terian Mission  have  been  opened  since  i860. 
The  girls'  schools  in  Tripoh  (1872),  and  Sidon  (1862), 
and  the  boys'  boardings-schools  in  Sidon  (1881),  and  Suk  el 
Gharb  (1877),  have  had  a  large  share  in  the  training  of  the  youth 
of  Syria. 

In  1899  the  boys'  boarding-school  at  Shweir,  Mount  Lebanon, 
founded  in  1869  by  the  Lebanon  Schools  Committee  of  the 
Free  Church  of  Scotland,  in  Suk  el  Gharb,  and  thence  removed 
to  Shweir,  was  transferred  to  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Missions. 
The  principal.  Rev.  William  Carslaw,  M.  D.,  however,  continues 
as  its  head,  being  supported  by  the  United  Free  Church.  The 
school  has  a  high  character  for  religious  influence  and  scholar- 
ship. 

Another  boys'  boarding-school  has  just  been  opened  in 
Tripoli,  under  the  care  of  Rev.  Dr.  Nelson.  Its  prospects  are 
good,  and  the  people  are  willing  to  pay  for  education.  It  has 
seventy-five  paying  boarders.  The  native  Protestants  in  Hums 
have  opened  at  their  own  expense  a  boys'  boarding-school  with 
ninety  boarders  and  ninety  day  pupils. 

Tripoli  Girls'  School 
The  Tripoli  station  had  been  occupied  about  twenty  years, 
when  the  need  of  a  girls'  boarding-school  became  urgent.     A  day- 
school  for  girls  had  been  opened  in  1856  and  continued,  but  it 
could  not  train  teachers  or  benefit  Protestant  girls  in  the  interior. 

508 


Tripoli  Girls'  School  509 

Beirut  Seminary  was  too  far  and  its  training  not  adapted  to  the 
peasant  girls  of  Akkar  and  Safita,  Hums,  and  Mahardeh. 

In  September,  1873,  Mrs.  Shrimpton,  an  English  lady,  and 
Miss  Kipp,  of  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  took  charge  of  the  school.  In 
October,  1875,  Miss  Mary  S.  Hanford  (now  Mrs.  Professor 
Moore  of  Andover)  spent  a  year  in  teaching.  In  January,  1876, 
Miss  Harriet  La  Grange  began  her  work  as  head  of  the  school, 
and  was  joined  in  May  by  Miss  EmiUa  Thomson,  of  Beirut.  In 
October,  1879,  Miss  Susan  H.  Calhoun  came  to  aid  Miss 
La  Grange.  In  December,  1879,  Miss  Calhoun  was  transferred 
to  Shvvifat,  and  Miss  Cundall  took  her  place,  and  remained  until 
her  return  to  America  in  March,  1883.  In  November,  1883, 
Miss  C.  M.  Holmes  came,  and  remained,  with  one  year's  absence, 
until  July,  1894.  Misses  R.  Brown  (1886),  Bird  (1887),  M.  T. 
M.  Ford  (1888),  F.  M.  Jessup  (1895),  A.  H.  Jessup  (1896),  E.  M. 
Law,  and  Mrs.  Shaw  taught  for  varying  periods  until  Miss 
Bernice  Hunting  came  in  October,  1896.  During  her  furlough 
in  1 904- 1 905  Miss  Gillbee  of  England  took  her  place. 

Not  less  than  fifteen  different  foreign  teachers  have  been  con- 
nected with  it,  but  the  success  of  the  school  has  been  owing  to 
the  faithful  and  continuous  labours  of  Miss  Harriet  La  Grange 
for  thirty-three  years.  Two  classes  of  girls  have  been  enrolled  in 
this  school,  the  more  aristocratic  Greek  girls  of  Tripoli,  and  the 
daughters  of  the  fellahin  of  the  interior.  To  combine  these  two 
in  one  school  has  been  no  easy  task,  but  the  patience,  wisdom 
and  fidelity  of  the  teachers  have  surmounted  all  difficulties.  The 
daughters  of  the  city  have  been  highly  educated  and  fitted  for 
the  wealthier  homes,  and  the  country  girls  have  been  fitted  to  be 
teachers,  and  to  be  wives  of  Syrian  artisans  and  farmers. 

I  was  present  at  the  graduating  exercises  of  this  school  in 
1885,  and  delivered  the  annual  address.  At  the  close,  Nicola 
Beg  Nofel,  the  most  prominent  citizen  of  the  Orthodox  Greek 
community  of  Tripoli,  made  a  brief  address,  speaking  in  the 
most  eloquent  and  affectionate  terms  of  the  high  esteem  in  which 
Miss  La  Grange  was  held  by  the  people  of  Tripoli,  and  of  the 
fruit  of  her  labours  in  the  moral,  religious,  and  intellectual  eleva- 


510  Mission  Schools 

tion  of  the  young  women  of  TripoU.  It  was  one  of  the  many 
similar  testimonies  given  from  time  to  time  in  Tripoli,  Beirut 
and  Sidon,  to  the  high  appreciation  by  the  Syrian  people  of 
female  education  as  conducted  by  the  American  missionaries. 

The  English  language  has  been  taught,  and  certain  of  the 
pupils  have  learned  French,  but  all  have  been  trained  in  the 
Arabic  language,  and  in  the  Scriptures.  In  the  winter  of 
1900-1901  a  profound  rehgious  awakening  moved  the  whole 
school. 

The  number  of  boarding  pupils  in  the  Tripoli  school  from  the 
beginning  is  about  300,  thirty-six  of  whom  have  become 
teachers  in  Protestant,  native  Greek  and  Russian  schools. 
Twelve  of  the  present  pupils  are  daughters  of  former  pupils. 

The  Sidon  Girls'  Boarding-School 
A  glance  at  the  map  of  Syria,  showing  three  American  board- 
ing-schools for  girls  on  the  Syrian  coast,  within  a  distance  of 
seventy  miles,  has  led  some  to  criticize  a  policy  of  such  educa- 
tional concentration.  But  the  explanation  is  easy.  Each  of 
these  schools  has  been  a  providential  growth.  The  Syrian 
people  can  best  be  reached  through  village  schools.  Schools  are 
an  entering  wedge,  and  open  the  way  for  the  Church  and  the 
organized  Protestant  community.  But  these  schools  must  have 
teachers,  and  the  girls'  schools  must  have  teachers  from  the 
villages  where  they  are  opened.  To  meet  this  need  and  to  train 
educated  wives  for  Protestant  men,  there  must  be  boarding- 
schools.  Dr.  De  Forest  opened  the  first  girls'  boarding-school  in 
Syria.  On  his  departure,  the  Board  sent  Miss  Temple  and  Miss 
Johnson,  who  transferred  the  school  from  Beirut  to  Suk  el 
Gharb  in  1858.  The  massacres  of  i860  broke  up  the  school, 
and  the  same  circumstances  which  made  it  impolitic  to  reopen 
the  school  in  Lebanon  demanded  its  opening  in  Sidon.  Miss 
Johnson  having  returned  to  America,  Miss  Mason  came  in  her 
place,  and  as  the  Civil  War  in  America  had  crippled  the  funds  of 
the  Board,  Miss  Mason  was  directed  to  open,  in  October,  1862,  a 
day-school  in  Sidon,  and  girls  from  the  outlying  villages,  in  at- 


Sidon  Girls'  School 


511 


tendance,  were  to  board  in  the  families  of  native  Protestants  in 
the  city  at  the  expense  of  the  mission. 

Miss  Mason  resigned  in  1865,  having  had  the  aid  of  Mrs. 
W.  W.  Eddy,  and  Mrs.  Ford  in  carrying  on  the  school.  The 
mission  then  decided  to  place  the  school  wholly  in  charge  of  a 
Syrian  principal  and  teachers,  under  the  supervision  of  Mrs. 
Eddy.  This  was  a  pet  object  with  those  who  originated  the 
Beirut  Female  Seminary,  and  the  Syrian  Protestant  College.  It 
succeeded  in  Beirut  Seminary  for  six  years  and  then  failed,  as 
the  rarely  gifted  Syrian  preceptress,  Miss  Rufka  Gregory,  had  no 
successor,  and  Miss  E.  D.  Everett  was  called  to  take  her  place. 
It  was  in  reality  never  tried  in  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  nor 
could  it  have  been  tried. 

As  the  American  Board  were  loath  to  send  another  American 
in  Miss  Mason's  place,  this  plan  of  a  Syrian  principal  was  tried* 
But  in  the  fall  and  winter  of  1867,  Mrs.  E.  H.  Watson,  an  Eng- 
lish lady  of  long  experience  as  a  teacher,  and  her  Syrian  adopted 
daughter.  Miss  Handumeh  Shekkur  Watson,  took  charge  of  the 
school.  Afterwards  it  was  conducted  by  Misses  Jacombs  and 
Stainton,  EngHsh  ladies,  from  1871  to  July,  1876.  These  ladies 
were  supported  by  the  then  prosperous  "  Society  for  the  Promo- 
tion of  Female  Education  in  the  East."  The  courtesy  shown  by 
this  society  in  supplying  Sidon  Seminary  so  long  was  fully  ap- 
preciated. 

Meantime  the  hope  of  placing  it  under  a  Syrian  principal  and 
staff  was  abandoned.  In  October,  1876,  Miss  Harriette  M.  Eddy, 
having  completed  her  .education  in  the  United  States  and  re- 
turned as  an  appointed  missionary,  took  charge  of  the  school. 
She  continued  in  it  for  twelve  years,  until  her  marriage  to  Rev. 
F.  E.  Hoskins,  August,  1888.  During  this  period  she  had  been 
assisted  by  Misses  M.  M.  Lyons  (i  877-1880),  E.  Bird  (1881), 
B.  M.  Nelson  (1881-1885),  S.  Ford  (1883),  Rebecca  Brown 
(1885-1892),  Charlotte  Brown  (1885).  On  the  return  of  Miss 
R.  Brown  to  America,  in  1892,  Miss  Ellen  M.  Law  came  to  the 
school,  and  was  followed  in  November,  1893,  by  her  sister,  Miss 
M.  Louise  Law.     In  1 892-1893,  Miss  M.  T.  M.  Ford  taught  in 


j;12  Mission  Schools 

Sidon  Seminary,  Mrs.  Gerald  F.  Dale,  Jr.,  in  1 893-1 894,  Miss 
F.  M.  Jessup  for  the  year  1900-1901 ;  and  in  December,  1902, 
Miss  Home  came  to  Sidon  and  remained  there  nearly  two  years. 
The  school  is  now  (1908)  under  the  charge  of  Misses  Charlotte 
Brown  and  Louise  Law. 

It  now  has  about  fifty  boarding  pupils,  and  quite  a  number  of 
day  scholars.  In  its  curriculum  it  has  vibrated  between  a  purely 
vernacular  basis  and  a  broader  one  teaching  the  English  language. 
It  has  aimed  at  admitting  only  Protestant  girls,  whether  paying 
pupils  or  not,  and  its  graduates  form  now  the  best  element  in  the 
Christian  womanhood  of  the  whole  mission  field  east  and  south 
of  Sidon,  in  scores  of  villages  and  hundreds  of  homes.  It  does 
not  aim  at  as  high  a  standard  of  the  Beirut  Seminary,  and  its 
graduates  often  enter  the  Beirut  '•  Teacher's  Class,"  to  fit  them  as 
first-class  teachers,  but  it  gives  a  solid  and  substantial  education. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  Syria  has  no  public  schools.  The 
only  government  schools  virtually  receive  only  Moslem  children, 
and  exclude  the  Christian  sects.  The  system  is  narrow,  bigoted 
and  short-sighted,  intended  to  bolster  up  Islam,  and  ignore  Chris- 
tianity. "  While  nominally  for  all  sects,  yet  probably  not  more 
than  one  per  cent,  of  their  pupils  are  from  the  Oriental  Christian 
sects"  (the  London  Times,  January,  1905).^ 

Every  Christian  sect  is,  therefore,  forced  to  educate  its  own 
children,  and  thus  the  children  of  the  various  sects  in  the  empire 
grow  up  ignorant  of  each  other,  and  the  ancient  racial  and  re- 
ligious hatreds  are  perpetuated.  Protestant  schools  open  their 
doors  to  all.  Yet  the  authorities,  fearing  the  light,  threaten  all 
Moslem  children  attending  Protestant  schools.  As  a  rule  the 
Protestant  schools  are  so  much  better  than  others,  that  they  are 
crowded  with  pupils  of  all  sects.  An  educated  Protestant  young 
woman  in  a  village,  teaching  the  children,  teaches  the  mothers  as 
well,  and  becomes  the  counsellor  and  guide  of  all,  respected  and 
beloved.  Each  village  school  becomes  a  fountain  of  light  and 
blessing. 

*The  programme  of  the  new  liberal  government  includes  common 
schools  for  all  and  universal  education. 


Gerard  Institute — Industrial  Work  513 

Sidon  school  has  thus  far  educated  566  boarders  and  seventy- 
eight  day  pupils  in  the  upper  department.  Of  these  190  are 
known  to  have  united  with  the  Church ;  and  of  these,  about  140 
of  the  graduates  have  become  teachers  in  Syria,  Palestine,  and 
Egypt. 

Gerard  Institute,  Sidon 

This  institution,  now  so  well  established,  is  the  outgrowth  of 
a  missionary  necessity.  After  a  trial  of  fifteen  years,  it  was  found 
that,  as  a  rule,  the  college  graduates  were  not  available  as  teach- 
ers of  village  schools,  and  as  ordinary  rehgious  helpers.  They 
were  not  content  with  the  moderate  salaries,  nor  a  return  to 
simple  village  life  and  habits.  It  was,  therefore,  voted  in  August, 
1 88 1,  that,  "  in  view  of  the  want  of  a  grade  of  teachers  in  the  mis- 
sion, intermediate  between  college  graduates  and  the  graduates  of 
common  schools,  the  different  stations  (Sidon,  Abeih,  Tripoli,  and 
Zahleh)  be  authorized  to  educate  a  class  of  pupil-teachers  in  the 
high  schools  at  the  central  stations  of  each  field,  and  to  furnish 
in  whole  or  in  part  the  cost  of  the  board  of  the  pupils  while 
studying." 

In  accordance  with  this  vote,  Sidon  station  authorized  Mr. 
W.  K.  Eddy  to  open  a  boarding  department  in  the  day-school 
for  boys  in  Sidon,  October,  1881,  the  boys  being  chiefly  from  the 
neighbouring  villages.  A  part  of  them  brought  their  own  food, 
and  slept  at  the  school. 

About  1882  a  boys'  boarding-school  was  also  opened  in  Sukel 
Gharb,  Mount  Lebanon,  by  Rev.  T.  S.  Pond,  of  the  Abeih  sta- 
tion, and  one  at  a  later  date,  1885,  in  Zahleh,  by  Rev.  G.  F. 
Dale,  Jr.,  but  the  boarding  department  of  the  school  was  discon- 
tinued at  his  death,  October,  1886,  after  one  year's  trial,  for  lack 
of  a  missionary  superintendent. 

In  August,  1886,  Dr.  G.  A.  Ford,  by  appointment,  read  a  paper 
before  the  mission  on  boys'  boarding-schools.  He  said  in  part: 
"  In  view  of  the  suspension  of  Abeih  Seminary,  the  opening  of 
the  theological  seminary  in  Beirut,  the  change  in  the  college 
from  Arabic  to  English,  after  the  Abeih  Seminary  was  closed. 


514  Mission  Schools 

and  the  difficulty  of  depending  on  the  college  for  plain  teachers 
and  preachers,  and  there  being  no  institution  preparatory  to  the 
theological  seminary  where  a  first-class  Arabic  or  Bible  educa- 
tion can  be  obtained ;  and  in  view  of  the  gradual  disappearance 
of  the  men  trained  in  Abeih  under  Mr.  Calhoun,  a  falling  off  in 
the  grade  of  native  helpers  ;  the  drain  Egypt  makes  on  the  class 
of  highly-educated  men  ;  and  the  drifting  of  the  boys'  boarding- 
schools  in  Sidon  and  Suk  beyond  the  scope  of  the  vote  under 
which  they  were  founded  ;  it  is  evident  that  there  is  need  of  an 
intermediate  education  for  Christian  workers.  A  similar  need  is 
felt  in  England  and  America."  Dr.  Ford  quoted  the  General  As- 
sembly, the  Methodists,  Drs.  Crosby,  Cuyler,  Craighead,  Dykes, 
Spurgeon's  Lay  College,  H.  G.  Guinness'  Missionary  Institute, 
and  Moody's  Bible  Training-Schools  in  Chicago  and  Northfield. 

Mr.  Calhoun  had  said,  in  1859  :  "  To  the  Scriptures  we  give 
increased  attention.  The  Bible  is  doing  more  to  unfold  and  ex- 
pand the  intellectual  powers  and  to  create  careful  and  honest 
thinkers,  than  all  the  science  we  teach,  and  at  the  same  time  is 
the  chief  instrument  in  ridding  mind  and  heart  of  those  hateful 
doctrines  and  traditions,  which  are  the  heritage  of  these  sons  of 
the  Church  (z.  e.,  Greeks,  Maronites  and  Catholics)." 

The  plea  for  an  intermediate  training-school  was  urged  on 
the  ground  of  enlargement,  simpHcity,  rapidity  and  economy. 
Dr.  Ford  urged  that  two  schools  be  opened,  one  a  vernacular 
Bible  training-school,  excluding  English ;  the  other  a  thorough 
Arabic  academic  course,  with  English  enough  to  enable  pupils  to 
enter  the  college. 

In  1890  Mr.  March  read  a  paper  on  boys'  boarding-schools, 
urging  that  the  mission  should  set  apart  for  this  work  the  best 
man  with  the  strongest  mind  and  warmest  heart  that  the  mission 
can  afford.  He  urged  that  the  college  course  is  too  long  and  ex- 
pensive, and  its  graduates  cannot  supply  teachers  for  the  common 
schools.  In  fact,  up  to  1890,  seventy-two  of  the  boys  trained  in 
the  mission  boarding-schools  had  become  teachers  in  the  com- 
mon schools. 

The  mission  had  often  discussed  the  need  of  an  industrial  de- 


The  Orphanage — Mrs.  Wood's  Liberality         515 

partment  in  our  training-schools.  The  educated  boys  were  leav- 
ing school  with  no  means  of  support.  All  could  not  be  teachers. 
Education  of  the  head  without  the  hand  had  unfitted  them  to 
work  as  their  fathers  had  before  them.  What  Syria  needed  was 
a  body  of  educated  men  who  could  work  as  carpenters,  tailors, 
shoemakers  and  farmers,  and  support  themselves.  Thus  far  much 
had  been  said,  but  nothing  done.  To  Dr.  G.  A.  Ford  is  due  the 
credit  of  having  made  the  ideal  actual.  In  June,  1893,  the  mis- 
sion voted  approving  the  establishment  of  an  industrial  orphan- 
age for  boys,  under  evangelical  management  and  American 
superintendence,  and  asking  for  an  endowment  of  ^25,000,  apart 
from  the  cost  of  property,  building  and  equipment.  In  1894,  Dr. 
Ford  presented  an  elaborate  paper  on  industrial  training,  and  in 
January,  1895,  it  was  agreed  that  industrial  training  be  begun  as 
an  integral  part  of  Sidon  Academy,  now  Gerard  Institute. 

In  1894,  ;g 1 5,000  were  raised:  ;$6,500  by  Mrs.  Wood,  ;^4,ooo 
by  Dr.  Ford,  and  ;$4,550  by  Dr.  H.  H.  Jessup,  and  in  1895  the 
Miyeh-wa-miyeh  farm  was  purchased,  and  the  progress  of  the  in- 
dustrial school  approved  by  the  mission.  Carpentry,  tailoring, 
shoemaking  and  masonry  were  begun  and  successfully  carried  on. 
Eight  thousand  dollars  was  expended  for  land,  ^4,000  for  addi- 
tional buildings,  ;^i,ooo  for  implements,  ;^i,ooo  for  raw  materials 
for  trades,  and  ;^  1,000  for  running  expenses  the  first  year.  Mrs. 
George  Wood  of  New  York,  who  had  already  munificently  given 
towards  the  erection  of  Wood  Hall  for  the  Sidon  Boys'  School, 
and  the  Judaideh  school  and  dwelling-house,  now  gave  new 
proofs  of  her  broad-minded  generosity.  Through  her  aid  more 
land  was  purchased.  Artesian  boring  apparatus  was  imported, 
with  the  aid  of  Mrs.  Livingston  Taylor  of  Cleveland,  who  gave 
^4,000  for  that  department  of  the  work  and  engineers  came  from 
America  and  made  successive  borings  for  water.  Much  the  most 
successful  one  is  in  the  campus  of  Wood  Hall.  Pipes  were  driven 
down  900  feet,  and  a  stream  of  pure  water  rose  nearly  to  the  sur- 
face from  over  700  feet  depth,  and  an  hydraulic  ram  forces  the 
water  up  to  an  elevated  tank,  from  which  it  flows  to  the  Gerard 
Institute  and  the  girls'  boarding-school  at  the  other  end  of  the 


5l6  Mission  Schools 

city,  supplying  all  the  needs  of  the  American  colony,  with  a  sur- 
plus that  could  be  sold  to  the  city. 

In  May,  1900,  the  name  of  Sidon  Academy  was  changed  to 
Gerard  Institute,  in  honour  of  the  maiden  name  of  Mrs.  George 
Wood.  This  name  covers  the  literary,  industrial  and  orphan  de- 
partments. 

An  orphan  house  and  school  building  has  been  erected  on  the 
Miyeh-wa-miyeh  farm,  known  as  Beulah  Home,  and  extensive 
irrigating  works  have  been  constructed  in  the  valley,  on  the 
northeast,  vastly  increasing  the  value  and  productiveness  of  the 
farm.  This  farm  with  its  wheat  fields,  mulberry,  olive  and  orange 
orchards,  is  expected  to  yield  an  annual  net  income  of  at  least 
;^i,ooo,  for  the  support  of  the  orphanage.  Ramapo  Hall  is  now 
being  erected  on  the  farm  on  an  elevation  overlooking  Sidon  and 
the  sea. 

During  the  visit  of  Rev.  Dr.  Brown  to  Syria  in  1902,  Mrs. 
Wood  added  to  her  already  generous  benefactions  the  following 
splendidly  munificent  proposal : 

"  Having  long  cherished  a  desire  to  add  to  the  permanence  and 
scope  of  the  Mission  Training-School  for  Boys  at  Sidon,  it  gives 
me  double  pleasure  to  connect  the  offers  I  am  prepared  to  make 
with  the  auspicious  occasion  of  your  first  secretarial  visit  to  Syria. 
Allow  me,  then,  through  you,  to  make  to  the  mission  and  the 
Board,  for  the  benefit  of  Gerard  Institute,  the  following  offer : 

"  I.  Fifteen  hundred  dollars  in  cash  already  loaned  by  me  to 
the  stock  account  of  the  industrial  department  of  the  Gerard  In- 
stitute. 

"  2.  Such  a  sum  in  cash  (not  to  exceed  ;^  10,000)  as  may  be 
required  to  erect  needful  buildings  at  '  Dar  Es  Salaam.' 

"  3,  The  loan  of  such  a  further  sum  in  cash  without  interest, 
as  might  be  required  to  carry  out  any  plans  ^  the  Board  and  mission 
may  decide  upon,  said  loan  being  fully  covered  in  their  judgment 
by  assets  of  the  mission  for  the  purpose  becoming  available  in  a 
few  years'  time. 

"  4.  The  title  deeds  for  the  new  building  for  the  orphans 
*  With  reference  to  the  consolidation  of  the  boarding-schools. 


DAR  ES  SALAAM  SIDON  ORPHANAGE 
(CALLED  BEULAH  HOUSE.) 

SIDON  GERARD  INSTITUTE  PUPILS 
Having  an  outing  by  the  sea.     (The  Sea  Castle  of  Sidon  is  at  the  right.) 


A  Munificent  Gift 


517 


known  as  '  Beulah  Home ' — with  the  large  tract  of  land  on  which 
it  stands  and  the  forest  tract  near  by. 

"5.  An  annual  sum  (not  exceeding  ^1,000)  to  cover  any- 
needed  outlay  towards  securing  more  efficient  instruction  in  the 
manual  department. 

"  6.  An  annual  sum  (not  exceeding  ^1,000)  to  cover  the  cost 
of  maintaining  the  orphan  department  with  a  maximum  of  twenty 
boys,  including  the  wages  of  the  farm  overseer. 

•'  When  the  plans  of  the  mission  relative  to  these  offers  shall 
have  been  matured,  I  shall  be  ready  to  take  all  requisite  measures 
to  satisfy  the  Board  and  the  mission  regarding  the  security  of  my 
offers  and  their  permanent  vahdity." 

This  offer  was  unanimously  and  cordially  accepted  by  the 
Syria  Mission  and  by  the  Board,  so  that  the  Gerard  Institute 
now  has  a  larger  financial  support  than  any  other  boarding- 
school  in  the  world  connected  with  our  work.  I  cannot 
speak  too  highly  of  the  value  of  Mrs.  Wood's  intelligent,  sym- 
pathetic and  self-sacrificing  cooperation.  She  has  given  un- 
stintedly of  her  time,  her  strength  and  her  money,  and  without 
her  assistance  the  institute  never  could  have  become  what  it  is 
to-day. 

The  institute  is  situated  in  the  city  of  Sidon,  but  while  the  sit- 
uation is  convenient,  it  was  too  small  before  Mrs.  Wood's  offer, 
and  it  is  altogether  impossible  from  the  view-point  of  the  enlarged 
plans  which  her  generosity  has  permitted.  There  can  be  no  ex- 
pansion in  Sidon  proper,  for  the  adjoining  property  on  both  sides 
is  owned  by  parties  who  will  not  sell,  while  the  tract  across  the 
street  is  a  Moslem  cemetery.  It  is,  moreover,  desirable  that  such 
a  school  should  have  a  larger  area  than  would  be  possible  in  a 
crowded  Oriental  city,  especially  as  the  farm  is  to  form  a  promi- 
nent feature  of  the  work  of  the  school.  Accordingly  a  large 
tract  of  land  has  been  secured  about  two  miles  from  the  city.  It 
lies  on  the  summit  and  slope  of  a  high  hill  and  commands  one  of 
the  noblest  views  in  all  the  East.  It  is  a  superb  site  for  an  insti- 
tution ;  near  enough  to  the  city  to  be  easy  of  access,  and  yet  far 
enough  away  to  give  ample  room  for  development.     The  Beulah 


518  Mission  Schools 

Home  Orphanage  is  already  established  at  this  site,  and  the  whole 
institute  will  be  transferred  to  it  as  soon  as  the  necessary  build- 
ings can  be  erected,  though  it  is  probable  that  some  work,  partic- 
ularly the  day-schools,  will  continue  to  be  done  at  the  old  site. 
The  industrial  departments  are  (i)  farming  and  gardening;  (2) 
masonry  and  plastering;  (3)  carpentry  and  joining  ;  (4)  tailoring; 
(5)  blacksmithing,  etc. ;  (6)  shoemaking. 

A  serious  difficulty  has  been  experienced  in  finding  suitable 
Christian  instructors.  None  of  the  missionaries  had  the  requisite 
technical  knowledge,  and  the  resources  of  the  institute  did  not 
permit  the  employment  of  suitable  superintendents  from  the 
United  States.  As  a  temporary  makeshift,  therefore,  arrange- 
ments were  made  with  local  tailors,  carpenters,  masons,  etc.,  they 
to  give  free  instruction  to  such  boys  as  wished  to  learn  their  re- 
spective trades  and  to  take  the  profits  of  the  shops  for  their  com- 
pensation. This  plan  has  worked  well  enough  financially.  It 
has  given  foremen  without  cost  to  the  institute,  while  on  the 
other  hand,  free  student  labour  has  been  a  sufficient  incentive  to 
the  local  workmen.  The  difficulty  is  that  these  foremen  have 
had,  usually,  no  thorough  training  themselves,  their  knowledge 
being  limited  to  the  native  methods  and  that  they  are  apt  to  lack 
the  patience  and  skill  required  to  impart  what  they  do  know  to  a 
lot  of  boys  who  may  be  but  languidly  interested.  Even  more  se- 
rious is  the  fact  that  such  foremen,  while  men  of  excellent  charac- 
ter, are  for  the  most  part  not  evangehcal  Protestants,  so  that  they 
are  unable  to  exert  that  spiritual  influence  which  we  regard  as  so 
essential.  In  time,  it  is  fair  to  expect  that  graduates  of  the  insti- 
tute will  become  available  for  foremen  in  the  various  departments, 
and  special  effort  should  be  made  to  develop  the  right  men  for 
this  purpose.  But  for  so  large  a  school,  a  foreign  mechanical  su- 
perintendent is  urgently  needed,  and  with  the  added  resources 
now  made  available  by  Mrs.  Wood's  offer,  it  is  hoped  that  Dr. 
Ford  can  carry  out  his  long  cherished  desire  to  obtain  a  foreign 
assistant,  who  will  unite  mechanical  skill  and  missionary  charac- 
ter. 

The   boarding   section  of  the   primary  department  has   now 


The  Best  Kind  of  Dividends  jig 

been  removed  to  the  Beulah  Home  on  the  farm.  The  orphan- 
age edifice  has  been  enlarged,  and  now  has  some  fifty  pupils. 
Mr.  Stuart  D.  Jessup  has  entered  upon  his  duties  as  teacher  in 
Gerard  Institute  in  the  city.  Buildings  are  now  in  process  of 
erection  (1909)  on  the  farm  hill.  The  main  building  is  to  be 
known  as  Ramapo  Hall,  the  funds  having  been  given  to  Dr.  Ford 
by  the  Ramapo  Church. 

In  December,  1903,  Mr.  Stuart  D.  Jessup  in  his  annual  report 
of  the  institute  gave  some  valuable  facts  about  the  training  of 
native  helpers.  In  this  paper  it  was  stated  that  of  1,019  students 
who  have  attended  Gerard  Institute  up  to  1902,  164  have  taught 
in  mission  schools  for  from  one  to  fourteen  years,  or  nearly  eight 
per  year. 

Of  144  native  helpers  now  employed  by  the  mission,  forty- 
seven  received  their  training  in  whole  or  in  part  at  Gerard, 
twenty-eight  at  Suk  el  Gharb,  twenty-three  at  the  college,  six- 
teen at  the  old  Abeih  Academy,  six  at  Shweir,  fourteen  at  other 
mission  schools  and  ten  had  no  academic  training. 

Of  the  thirty-five  native  preachers  in  the  Syria  Mission, 
ordained  and  licentiates,  six  received  no  academic  training.  Of 
the  remaining  twenty-nine,  ten  were  trained  in  the  old  Abeih. 
Academy,  ten  at  Gerard,  four  at  Suk,  three  at  the  college,  and 
two  at  other  mission  schools. 

It  is  clear,  then,  that  such  schools  as  Gerard  and  Suk  are  a 
necessity  as  long  as  native  Syrian  teachers  and  helpers  are  needed. 
The  teaching  of  English  in  these  schools  is  justified,  1st,  by  the 
fact  that  many  of  the  boys  intend  to  enter  the  college ;  2d,  that 
those  who  become  teachers  of  common  schools  may  be  able  to 
teach  the  rudiments  of  English, 

The  English  occupation  of  Egypt  and  the  emigration  of  tens 
of  thousands  of  Syrians  to  America  have  given  the  English 
language  an  impetus  in  these  old  lands  of  Western  Asia,  which 
obliges  all  schools  to  teach  English  or  lose  their  pupils.  Emi- 
grants are  constantly  writing  to  their  friends  left  behind  in 
Syria,  "  Be  sure  and  send  your  children  to  the  American  and 
English  schools  ! " 


^2o  Mission  Schools 

SuK  EL  Gharb  Boys'  Boakding-School 

In  the  fall  of  1883,  this  school  was  opened  by  Rev.  T.  S.  Pond, 
who  conducted  it  until  June,  1889.  It  began  with  thirty-five 
boarders,  and  when  Mr.  Pond  left  Syria  it  had  ninety-eight. 
During  the  six  years  it  had  about  250  pupils. 

Rev.  O.  J.  Hardin  took  charge  of  it  November  9,  1889,  and 
the  whole  number  under  instruction  during  these  sixteen  years 
(1905)  has  been  852,  from  all  the  Syrian  sects,  Protestant,  Greek, 
Maronite,  Catholic,  Druse,  Moslem  and  Jewish.  Of  the  gradu- 
ates, eighty-nine  have  been  teachers  ;  twelve  have  been  preachers  ; 
five  have  been  in  the  theological  classes,  and  133  have  entered 
the  Syrian  Protestant  College.  Mr.  Hardin  aims  not  only  to 
prepare  boys  for  college,  but  to  fit  them  for  usefulness  whether 
they  become  teachers  or  not.  Arabic,  English  and  French  are 
well  taught.  Miss  Effie  Hardin  has  given  her  services  gratui- 
tously, and  has  been  most  successful  in  teaching  English  so 
that  her  pupils  are  well  prepared  for  freshman  year  in  the 
college. 

It  was  proposed  at  one  time  to  suspend  the  Suk  school,  or 
merge  it  in  the  boarding-school  at  Shvveir,  or  in  the  Tripoli 
school.  But  it  has  a  distinct  vocation  from  its  situation  in  Druse 
Lebanon.     The  climate  is  healthful,  summer  and  winter. 

The  buildings  of  cut  stone  are  the  property  of  the  Board  of 
Missions,  and  the  original  structure  was  built  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Scotch  "Lebanon  Schools,"  and  dedicated  in  June,  1870, 
by  the  celebrated  Dr.  Alexander  Duff,  and  his  co-commissioner. 
Principal  J.  Lumsden,  whose  names  were  carved  in  the  massive 
limestone  blocks  near  the  entrance  on  the  west  wall  of  the  build- 
ing. Previous  to  that  visit,  the  schools  had  been  under  the 
control  of  a  Syrian  superintendent,  but  in  1872,  Rev.  John  Rae 
was  sent  out  from  Scotland  to  take  charge  as  superintendent. 
As  the  Syrian,  who  had  assured  Dr.  Duff  that  the  property  was 
bought  with  Scotch  funds,  refused  to  surrender  the  keys  to  Mr. 
Rae,  legal  proceedings  were  entered  upon  and  Mr.  Rae  removed 
to  Shweir  in  1874,  where  he  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Carslaw  in 
1880.     The  Scotch  Mission,  having  secured  through  the  Lebanon 


A  New  Departure  in  the  Orient  521 

court  the  possession  of  the  Suk  el  Gharb  buildings  after  litiga- 
tion for  fifteen  years,  sold  them  to  the  American  Mission  in 
March,  1889. 

Dr.  Carslaw  had  been  a  lay  medical  missionary  in  Madras,  and 
was  ordained  by  the  mission  presbytery  in  Beirut,  December, 
1883,  and  in  1900  the  Lebanon  Schools  Committee  transferred  all 
right  and  title  to  the  Shweir  property,  consisting  of  a  manse,  a 
church  and  two  school  buildings,  to  the  American  Presbyterian 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  The  United  Free  Church  retain 
Dr.  Carslaw  as  their  missionary  during  his  lifetime. 

The  Asfuriyeh  Hospital  for  the  Insane 

On  the  17th  of  April,  1896,  it  was  my  privilege  to  invite  a 
number  of  foreign  and  Syrian  residents  of  Beirut  to  meet  in  my 
study,  to  hear  from  Theophilus  Waldmeier  a  statement  of  his 
plan  to  found  a  hospital  for  the  insane  in  Syria.  As  a  result  ten 
of  those  present  consented  to  act  as  an  executive  committee. 
Rev.  John  Wortabet,  M.  D.,  was  elected  president,  H.  H.  Jessup 
secretary,  Charles  Smith,  Esq.,  treasurer,  and  the  other  members 
were  Theophilus  Waldmeier,  founder  and  business  superintendent, 
Messrs.  Shoucair  and  Khirullah,  Syrians,  Drs.  Brigstocke  and 
Graham,  English,  Dr.  W.  T.  Van  Dyck,  American,  and  Pastor 
Otto  Fritze,  German. 

Mr.  Waldmeier  was  then  authorized  to  visit  Europe,  Great 
Britain,  and  the  United  States,  to  interest  the  public  and  to  raise 
funds  to  buy  land  and  erect  buildings,  A  native  of  Germany, 
yet  resident  in  the  East  for  thirty-eight  years  and  of  large  ex- 
perience in  buying  the  site  and  erecting  the  four  large  edifices 
of  the  Friends'  Mission  in  Brummana,  Mount  Lebanon,  speaking 
German,  English,  French,  and  Arabic,  and  fully  consecrated  to 
devote  the  remaining  years  of  his  life  to  the  relief  of  the  mentally 
afficted  as  a  service  to  Christ  and  humanity,  he  was  admirably 
qualified  for  the  laborious  task,  and  succeeded  well.  He  formed 
auxiliary  committees  in  Switzerland,  Holland,  Germany,  England, 
Scotland,  Ireland,  Canada,  and   the  United  States,  and   raised 


522  Mission  Schools 

about  ten  thousand  dollars.  A  central  committee  was  formed  in 
London  composed  of  such  men  as  Sir  Richard  Tangye,  Dr.  F.  A. 
Elkins,  Dr.  R.  Fortescue  Fox,  Dr.  R,  Percy  Smith,  Dr.  David 
Yellowlees,  Dr.  A.  T.  Schofield,  Dr.  Bedford  Pierce,  Rev.  J. 
Guinness  Rogers,  D.  D.,  and  Dr.  R.  Kingston  Fox,  and  others, 
and  a  board  of  trustees  was  formed  consisting  of  Wm.  A. 
Albright  and  Joel  Cadbury  of  Birmingham  and  Rev.  C.  A. 
Webster,  M.  D.,  and  Rev.  H.  H.  Jessup,  D.  D.,  of  Beirut. 

Mr.  Waldmeier  returned  to  Syria  in  1897,  ^"^  after  long 
searching  and  many  journeys  by  sub-committees,  we  finally 
selected  as  the  best  site  the  place  known  as  El  Asfuriyeh,  a 
beautiful  elevation  on  one  of  the  lower  spurs  of  Lebanon, 
forty-five  minutes  from  Beirut,  yet  under  the  Christian  gov- 
ernment of  Lebanon,  400  feet  above  sea-level,  with  an  abundant 
supply  of  pure  spring  water,  a  large  tract  of  land,  three  stone 
buildings,  fine  quarries  of  indurated  cretaceous  limestone  for  build- 
ing, a  fertile  soil,  and  a  most  salubrious,  cheerful,  and  attractive 
site. 

We  purchased  it  from  Hishmet  Beg,  a  courteous  and  high 
minded  Turkish  gentleman,  long  known  as  the  upright  treasurer 
of  the  Lebanon  government,  for  about  ;^9,ooo,  and  experience 
has  proved  that  it  was  a  most  economical  purchase.  There 
are  now  thirty-four  acres  of  land. 

Nine  years  have  passed.  Twelve  stone  buildings  have  been 
erected ;  the  administration  building  (enlarged),  the  men's  ward, 
and  isolating  ward,  the  Holland  kitchen,  Dr.  Thwaites'  house,  the 
house  of  Mr.  Baumkamp,  head  nurse,  the  chapel,  the  clinic,  the 
porter's  lodge,  the  wash-house,  and  the  tenant  farmer's  house.  In 
addition  to  a  perennial  flowing  spring  of  pure  water,  it  has  several 
rain-water  cisterns. 

More  than  600  patients  have  received  treatment,  of  whom  more 
that  thirty-three  per  cent,  have  been  discharged  cured.  The  aver- 
age number  treated  annually  is  155.  This  being  the  only  organized 
hospital  for  the  insane  in  Syria,  patients  come  from  Syria,  Palestine, 
Egypt,  Asia  Minor,  Cyprus,  Malta,  Persia,  India,  and  foreigners 
from  Russia,  Italy,  Germany  and  Austria.     They  represent  ten  of 


Former  Pitiable  Fate  of  the  Insane 


523 


the  rehgious  sects  of  the  land :  Mohammedans,  Maronites,  Jews, 
Orthodox  Greeks,  Druses,  Papal  Greeks,  Metawilehs,  Armenians, 
Roman  Catholics,  and  Protestants. 

The  work  is  international  and  undenominational,  and  appeals 
to  the  liberal  in  all  lands  and  of  all  forms  of  religious  faith.  Un- 
like insane  hospitals  in  civilized  lands,  it  has  no  state  aid  and  de- 
pends upon  voluntary  contributions. 

When  we  were  planning  for  its  organization  in  1 896-1897,  Dr. 
Cornelius  Van  Dyck  said  that  "  we  need  not  expect  the  people  to 
pay  for  the  cure  of  their  insane,"  but  the  facts  prove  that  they  will 
and  do  pay. 


In  1900  received  from  patients 


'*  I90I 

"  1902 

"  1903 

"  1904 

"  1905 

"  1906 

"  1907 

«*  1908 

£  156 
589 
651 
729 

859 

1,113 

1,003 

1,003.13 
1,125 


This  is  a  remarkable  result.  Yet  there  are  on  an  average  thirty 
poor  patients,  unable  to  pay,  who  add  largely  to  the  deficit  in  the 
annual  income. 

As  the  expenses  of  the  hospital  amount  to  about  ^10,000 
a  year,  about  ^5,000  must  come  from  outside  donations,  and 
an  endowment  is  needed  which  would  net  the  amount  per 
annum. 

Under  the  business  superintendence  of  Mr.  Waldmeier,  and  the 
medical  care  of  Dr.  Thwaites,  just  succeeded  by  Dr.  Watson 
Smith,  with  the  aid  of  Mr.  Baumkamp  and  Miss  Ashley,  with  a 
corps  of  native  male  and  female  nurses,  the  institution  is  well 
equipped.  Before  this  hospital  was  opened,  the  treatment  of  the 
insane  was  cruel  beyond  belief.  They  were  beaten,  chained,  con- 
fined in  damp,  dark  dungeons,  or  given  over  to  priests  who  pro- 
fessed to  exorcise  the  demons  by  cruel  torture  in  the  dark  cavern 


524  Mission  Schools 

of  the  Convent  of  Kozheiya  in  Northern  Lebanon.  Some  are 
cauterized  in  the  head  with  red-hot  irons.  One  priest  in  Brum- 
mana  had  an  insane  woman  bound  to  a  stone  pillar  head  down- 
ward, read  his  formula  for  exorcism,  fumigating  her  with 
incense  until  she  began  to  curse  him,  when  he  beat  her  on  the 
face  with  his  large  silver  cross  until  the  blood  streamed  down 
upon  it. 

When  she  was  released  and  had  recovered  her  strength  she 
;ran  six  miles  down  the  mountain  to  the  sea  and  drowned  her- 
self. 

In  contrast  the  people  say, "  This  hospital  is  the  crown  of  good- 
ness and  mercy."  A  native  writer  declares  thebuildings,  in  their 
neatness  and  cleanliness,  to  be  more  like  palaces  than  insane 
hospital  wards.  Dr.  A.  T.  Schofield  of  London  who  visited 
Asfuriyeh  declared  it  to  be  "  a  model  institution." 

Dr.  Mauser,  director  of  the  large  Heldburghausen  Asylum  in 
Germany,  in  1906  wrote,  "  I  am  astonished  to  find  such  an  ex- 
cellent asylum  in  this  country  :  the  houses  are  well  built  with  free 
admission  of  light  and  fresh  air,  clean,  comfortable,  and  substan- 
tial, and  what  pleases  me  above  all  is  the  absence  of  the  undesir- 
able walls,  which  even  till  now  surround  some  of  our  asylums  in 
Europe.  The  *  bed  treatment '  of  the  maniacal  and  excited 
patients  is  much  better  than  the  strong  'jackets.'  " 

"  The  hospital  now  stands,"  as  Mr.  Waldmeier  says  in  the  re- 
port, March,  1907, "  as  a  beautiful  object-lesson  before  us,  in  which 
a  loving,  Christian,  humane  treatment  of  the  patients,  combined 
with  modern  alienistic  science,  can  be  observed.  Iron  chains 
have  to  give  way  to  freedom,  atrocities  and  cruelties  to  Christian 
love  and  kindness,  exorcism  to  sound  reason,  filthy  and  dangerous 
to  clean  and  airy  rooms,  and  ignorance  to  the  light  of  the  Gospel 
and  civilization." 

This  work,  though  not  under  a  missionary  board,  is  a  child  of 
missions,  and  under  the  management  of  Christian  men.  I  regard 
the  time  and  strength  I  have  given  to  it  as  secretary  for  ten  years, 
as  work  done  for  Christ  and  His  suffering  ones,  and  in  this  respect 
it  is  Christian  missionary  work. 


The  Hospital  Treasurers 


525 


Beirut  Executive  Committee 


R.     W.     Brigstocke,     M.  D., 

Chairman. 
Rev.    H.    H.    Jessup,    D.  D., 

Secretary. 
C.  Sigrist,  Consul  and  Banker, 

Treasurer. 
Theophilus       Waldmeier, 

Founder  and  Business  Su- 

perinte7ident. 
Harris  Graham,  B.  A.,  M.  D. 


Rev.  C.  A.  Webster,  B.A., 

M.D. 
Rev.  G.  M.  Mackie,  D.  D. 
Franklin    T.  Moore,  M.  D., 

Auditor. 
J.  J.  Effendi  Shoucair. 
A.  Effendi  Kheirallah. 
Walter  Booth  Adams,  M.  A., 

M.D. 
Watson  Smith,  M.  R.  C.  S., 

Medical  Superintendent. 


London    Treasurer,  Lady  Tangye,  35   Queen  Victoria  Street, 
London,  E.  C. 

Philadelphia,  Pa.,  Treasurer,  Asa  S.  Wing,  409  Chestnut  Street. 
New  York  7reasurer,H.emy  W.  Jessup,  Esq.,  31  Nassau  Street. 


XXIII 

Sketches  (1887) 

Miss  Everett 

APRIL  6th  the  Beirut  Boarding-School  for  Girls  cele- 
brated its  twenty-fifth  anniversary,  and  Miss  Eliza  D. 
Everett,  who  had  been  nineteen  years  at  the  head  of  the 
school,  bade  her  pupils  good-bye  in  view  of  her  departure  for 
America.  After  an  absence  of  two  years,  she  returned  in  1889 
and  remained  six  years  until  June,  1895,  when  she  resigned  and 
returned  to  America,  and  died  February,  1902,  She  thus  fulfilled 
twenty-five  years  of  successful  teaching  in  the  Beirut  school. 
She  was  attractive  in  appearance,  highly  intellectual,  thoroughly 
cultivated  and  consecrated  to  the  service  of  Christ  and  her  Syrian 
sisters.  She  was  revered  and  loved  by  her  pupils,  and  in  1904^ 
the  alumnae  of  the  school  in  Egypt  presented  to  the  institution  a 
valuable  oil  painting  of  Miss  Everett.  It  is  impossible  to  estimate 
the  amount  of  good  wrought  by  her  in  the  Christian  homes  of 
Syria  and  Egypt.     They  rise  up  on  every  side  and  call  her  blessed. 

NoFEL  Effendi  Nofel 

Nofel  Effendi  Nofel,  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  Christian 
manhood  I  have  ever  met,  died  August  9,  1887,  in  Tripoli. 
His  family  was  the  famous  Nofel  family  of  Tripoli,  and  his  father, 
a  government  official,  was  tortured  to  death  by  impalement,  be- 
cause he  would  not  yield  to  the  infamous  orders  of  that  monster, 
Jezzar  Pasha,  of  Acre. 

When  I  removed  to  Beirut  in  i860,  Nofel  Effendi  was  chief 
clerk  in  the  Beirut  custom-house,  and  a  fine  scholar  in  Arabic 
and  Turkish.  Early  in  1862,  he  united  with  the  Beirut  church 
and  became  a  vigorous  champion  of  the  evangelical  faith.  Dur- 
ing the  summer  he  passed  through  a  somewhat  remarkable  re- 

526 


Nofel  EfFendi 


527 


ligious  experience,  a  veritable  temptation  by  the  devil.  He  was 
troubled  with  blasphemous  thoughts  which  increased  to  such  an 
extent  that  he  gave  himself  up  as  lost.  His  language  was  not 
unUke  that  of  Bunyan  in  his  "  grace  abounding,"  and  only  after 
protracted  struggles  in  prayer  and  study  of  God's  Word  and 
finally  resolving  to  go  forward  and  do  his  duty  in  both  light  and 
darkness,  did  he  find  any  rehef.  The  Spirit  of  God  led  him  out 
into  the  light  although  through  a  painful  struggle. 

Nofel  Effendi  wrote  several  valuable  Arabic  works,  a  history 
of  the  religions  of  the  East,  a  history  of  the  Arabs,  and  a  reply 
to  the  Romish  priests. 

After  removing  to  Tripoli  in  1868,  he  became  an  elder  in  the 
Tripoli  church,  and  was  a  pillar  indeed,  a  man  of  strong  faith,  noble 
bearing,  great  modesty,  a  model  of  courtesy  and  hospitality,  and 
a  wise  counsellor  to  people  of  all  sects  who  came  to  consult  him. 
His  success  as  an  author  was  more  remarkable  as  he  knew  no 
foreign  tongue  but  Turkish,  and  his  early  opportunities  for  study 
were  extremely  meagre.  Had  he  the  thorough  training  of  the 
present  course  (1908)  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College,  he  would 
have  made  his  mark  throughout  the  East.  As  it  was  he  was  one 
of  the  builders  of  the  fabric  of  reform  in  modern  Syria. 

In  the  fall  there  was  an  evident  work  of  the  Spirit  among  a 
number  of  young  men  from  Hasbeiya  living  in  Beirut,  and  among 
the  students  in  Abeih  Seminary. 

July  2ist  my  two  daughters,  Mary  and  Amy,  and  my  sister 
Fanny  left,  under  the  care  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Fisher,  for  America. 
This  separation  from  children  during  the  formative  period  of  their 
lives  is  one  of  the  trials  of  a  foreign  missionary.  But  it  is  inevi- 
table, and  is  no  more  than  foreigners  in  business  or  civil  or  mili- 
tary service  have  to  endure.  A  child  may  remain  in  Syria  until  > 
the  age  of  fifteen  with  safety  to  health,  but  the  training  in  the 
home  land  is  far  superior  in  surroundings,  in  the  Christian  at- 
mosphere, and  the  higher  standard  of  morals  and  life  than  any- 
thing the  children  have  seen  around  them  in  such  a  land  as  this, 
that  we  may  well  make  the  sacrifice  and  bear  the  separation  for  i 


528  Sketches 

I  their  intellectual  and  spiritual  welfare.     The  missionary  parent 

/  can  trust  a  covenant-keeping  God  to  care  for  His  children,  and  in 

I  the  great  majority  of  cases  the  children  of  missionaries  have 

!  proved  to  be  an  honour  to  their  parents  and  true  members  of 

'  the  Church  of  Christ. 

From  beyond  the  sea  came  tidings  of  the  death  of  Rev.  D.  M. 
Wilson,  formerly  of  Tripoli  and  Hums.  He  came  to  Syria  in 
March,  1848,  and  left  for  America  in  May,  1861,  after  about 
thirteen  years  of  faithful  service.  The  aristocratic  airs  of  the 
people  of  Tripoli  did  not  suit  him,  and  he  rejoiced  to  remove  in 
1856  to  Hums,  where  among  the  more  simple  minded  and  in- 
genuous Greek  weavers  of  that  semi-pastoral  city,  he  took  delight 
in  preaching  and  explaining  the  Word  of  God. 

He  was  the  founder  of  the  church  in  Hums,  now  one  of  the 
most  flourishing  and  liberal  of  all  the  churches  in  Syria.  For 
three  years  I  corresponded  with  him  by  camel  post,  a  shoemaker 
in  Tripoli  and  a  weaver  in  Hums  acting  as  our  postal  agents. 
His  letters  were  always  pithy  and  pointed  and  I  regret  that  I 
have  none  kept  on  file.  No  Syrian  missionary  was  more  mighty  in 
the  Scriptures  and  more  facile  in  handling  the  Arabic  proof  texts. 
He  soon  had  crowds  of  the  young  men  of  Hums  gathered  nightly 
at  his  house  to  hear  the  Word  of  God. 

In  i860  he  narrowly  escaped  being  shot  by  the  Arabs,  at  a 
time  when  the  whole  country  was  in  a  state  of  civil  war  and  ter- 
rorism. He  had  heard  rumours  of  trouble  in  Lebanon,  and  set 
out  with  his  teacher,  Mr.  Sulleeba  Jerawan,  for  Tripoli  to  consult 
Mr.  Lyons  as  to  duty  in  the  threatening  state  of  affairs.  When 
three  miles  from  Hums,  by  the  bridge  of  the  Orontes,  a  body  of 
mounted  Arabs  surrounded  them  and  held  a  parley  as  to  their 
fate.  Not  supposing  that  Mr.  Wilson  understood  Arabic,  one 
of  them  said,  "  Let  us  kill  them,  strip  them,  and  throw  them  into 
the  river."  Another  said,  "  No,  we  cannot  do  that  without  orders 
from  the  emir."  So  they  took  them  several  miles  south  to  the 
camp.  When  the  emir  came,  they  told  him  their  story  and 
asked  why  his  men  had  arrested  them  on  the  Sultan's  highway. 


D.  M.  Wilson — J.  Lorenzo  Lyons  529 

The  emir  said,  "  Do  you  not  know  that  the  whole  land  is  rising, 
and  we  hear  that  orders  have  come  to  kill  all  foreigners  and  na- 
tive Christians  ?  Why  did  you  not  take  an  armed  guard  from 
the  government  ?  I  will  take  you  back  to  Hums  and  hand  you 
over  to  the  governor.  He  can  give  you  a  guard.  But  do 
not  venture  out  again  alone  on  the  road."  It  was  a  lesson  to 
Mr.  Wilson  and  has  been  a  lesson  to  many  missionaries  since.  I 
see  no  need  of  bearing  arms.  If  the  country  is  safe,  you  do  not 
need  them.     If  not,  you  can  get  a  guard. 

In  March,  my  old  schoolmate  and  townsman,  my  seminary 
chum,  and  missionary  colleague,  Rev.  J.  L.  Lyons,  died  in 
Florida,  aged  sixty-four  years.  We  were  brought  up  in  the 
same  village,  Montrose,  Pa.,  decided  on  the  missionary  work 
about  the  same  time.  Our  room  in  Union  Seminary  was  the 
rallying-place  for  students  considering  the  missionary  question. 

Rev.  J.  Lorenzo  Lyons  was  born  April  18,  1824,  graduated  at 
Williams  College  in  1 851,  and  at  Union  Theological  Seminary 
May,  1854.  He  sailed  for  Syria  November  19,  1854,  having 
married  Miss  Catherine  N.  Plumer,  of  South  Berwick,  Maine,  in 
October.  He  spent  a  year  in  Beirut  and  Lebanon,  when  I  joined 
him  and  we  were  stationed  together  at  Tripoli,  Syria,  where  he 
remained  until  June,  1861,  when  he  was  transferred  to  Sidon 
where  he  laboured  for  three  years. 

During  the  massacre  summer  of  i860,  he  was  actively  engaged 
in  visiting  the  refugee  Christians  and  desolated  villages  of  the 
Baalbec  district,  distributing  charity  to  the  needy.  A  serious 
illness  in  February,  1857,  affected  his  head  and  sight  to  such  an 
extent  that  for  years  his  writing  and  most  of  his  reading  were 
done  by  the  aid  of  his  devoted  wife.  He  returned  to  America  in 
June,  1863,  and  for  five  years  was  confined  for  the  most  part  of 
the  time  to  his  bed.  He  then  rallied  in  a  most  remarkable 
manner,  and  from  the  year  1871  to  1888  was  engaged  as  district 
agent  of  the  American  Bible  Society  for  Florida  and  Georgia. 
His  foreign  missionary  experience,  his  affability,  his  knowledge 
of  human  nature,  and  his  conscientious  fidelity  to  the  work  of  his 


^30  Sketches 

Master  made  him  acceptable  to  the  people.  He  had  a  keen  sense 
of  humour,  was  a  fine  musician,  fond  of  travel,  genial  in  his  inter- 
course with  the  Syrian  people,  and  wise  in  counsel.  He  longed 
to  return  to  Syria  but  his  physicians  would  not  consent. 

His  uncle,  Rev.  Lorenzo  Lyons,  was  one  of  the  first  mission- 
aries to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  His  widow,  and  son  John  Plumer, 
who  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1882,  survive  him. 

In  May  we  had  a  visit  from  General  Haig,'an  English  officer, 
explorer,  and  missionary.  He  delivered  a  lecture  on  his  recent 
journeys  in  Southern  Arabia,  to  Sunaa  in  Yemen,  the  Arabia 
Felix  of  the  ancients,  a  country  of  surpassing  beauty  and  fertility, 
on  high  table-land,  3,000  to  4,000  feet  above  the  sea-level, 
abounding  in  rich  productions.  From  Sunaa,  he  went  south  to 
Aden,  among  friendly  Arab  tribes.  He  strongly  urged  sending 
missionaries  to  Arabia.  He  went  to  Muscat,  Bahrein,  and  Bus- 
sorah  and  thence  to  Bagdad.  He  was  ten  days  of  twenty-one 
hours  each  in  crossing  the  plains  from  Bagdad  to  Damascus. 
The  camels  browsed  as  they  loped  lazily  along.  But  they  got 
through  safely.  General  Haig  was  a  fine  specimen  of  the  Chris- 
tian British  officer. 

Dr.  Michaiel  Meshaka 

On  the  6th  of  July,  1888,  died  Dr.  Michaiel  Meshaka,  the 
Martin  Luther  of  Syria.  He  was  an  able  physician,  self-taught 
by  studying  the  works  of  the  Boulak  Press  in  Cairo,  Egypt.  He 
was  a  fine  astronomer  and  had  calculated  all  the  eclipses  for  a 
century  to  come. 

Born  a  Roman  Cathohc  in  Mount  Lebanon,  March  2,  1799,  he 
lapsed  into  skepticism,  but  was  converted  through  the  labour  of 
Dr.  Eli  Smith  and  Dr.  Van  Dyck,  and  especially  by  studying 
"  Alexander's  Evidences  of  Christianity,"  and  "  Keith  on 
Prophecy." 

A  master  of  the  Arabic  language,  he  now  used  his  pen  to 
expose  the  unscriptural  errors  of  the  papacy  and  wrote  a  series 
of  books,  at  times  as  caustic  and  severe  as  anything  Luther  ever 


-O     ri 


Dr.  Meshaka 


531 


wrote,  but  full  of  argument,  Scripture,  historical  reference,  and 
irresistible  logic.  His  books  had  a  wide  circulation  and  had  a 
mighty  influence  in  shaking  the  despotic  sway  of  the  priesthood 
over  the  minds  and  consciences  of  the  Syrian  Oriental  Christians. 
He  was  a  great  friend  of  the  Emir  Abd  el  Kadir  and  of  all  the 
Mohammedan  sheikhs  and  Ulema.  Pashas  and  European  con- 
suls consulted  him  and  he  was  made  American  vice-consul  in 
Damascus.  Some  of  his  historical  writings  are  still  in  manu- 
script, being  too  personal  as  to  the  powers  that  be  to  make  it 
safe  for  his  family  to  publish  them.^ 

He  was  a  warm  friend  of  the  American  and  Irish  Presbyterian 
missionaries  in  Damascus,  Dr.  Paulding,  Dr.  Lansing,  Dr.  Barnett, 
Dr.  J.  Crawford,  Dr.  S.  Robson,  Dr.  J.  L.  Porter,  Mr.  Frazier,  and 
the  lamented  Graham  who  was  killed  in  the  massacre  of  i860. 
We  have  already  noted  his  escape  from  massacre. 

In  July,  1888,  Rev.  F.  E.  Hoskins,  who  had  taught  three  years 
in  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  and  then  returned  to  America  to 
complete  his  theological  studies,  reached  Syria  and  was  married 
August  22d,  to  Miss  Harriette  M.  Eddy  of  the  Sidon  Girls'  School. 
They  were  stationed  in  Zahleh  where  they  remained  until  1900, 
when  they  were  transferred  to  Beirut,  owing  to  the  death  of  Mrs. 
Hoskins'  father,  Dr.  W.  W.  Eddy,  so  long  a  member  of  the  Beirut 
station. 

The  same  year,  October  31st,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  W.  S.  Nelson  ar- 
rived in  Syria  and  began  work  in  Tripoli. 

Six  theological  students  graduated  in  June.  Three  of  them  are 
in  business  in  America,  one  is  dead,  and  two  are  now  (1908) 
faithfully  preaching  the  Gospel  in  Syria.  Thus  far,  no  means 
have  been  found  by  which  our  theological  students  can  be  bound 
to  remain  and  serve  their  own  country.  The  temptation  to 
amass  wealth  by  emigration  is  the  touchstone  by  which  the 
tone,  character,  and  spirit  of  young  men  are  tested.     Those  who 

*  Under  the  new  free  Ottoman  government,  his  history,  "Meshed  ul 
Aiyan,"  has  now  been  published  by  the  "  Helal  "  Press  in  Cairo,  an 
Arabic  book  of  200  pages. 


532  Sketches 

stand  the  test  and  resist  the  temptation  are  of  good  stuff  and  can 
be  relied  upon.  But  alas,  a  considerable  number  yield  to  the 
tempter  and  are  lost  to  the  Church  of  Syria  and  it  is  difficult  to 
say  whether  they  are  ever  connected  with  the  Church  in  America. 

H.  E.  Wassa  Pasha,  Mutserrif  of  Mount  Lebanon,  was  at  one 
time  induced  by  false  statements  of  certain  petty  officials  to  enter 
complaint  to  the  American  consul  against  our  schools  in  Lebanon, 
but  through  the  efforts  of  our  efficient  consul,  Mr.  Bissinger,  he 
changed  his  views  as  completely  as  his  predecessor,  Rustam 
Pasha,  had  done. 

On  the  28th  of  February,  a  delegation  of  the  missionaries  con- 
sisting of  Drs.  D.  Bliss,  W.  W.  Eddy,  J.  S.  Dennis,  and  S.  Jessup 
and  Mr.  Pond  and  H.  H.  Jessup,  called  upon  him  at  his  house  in 
Beirut.  The  pasha  was  most  affable  and  said,  "  Assure  your 
friends  and  your  government  that  I  will  do  all  in  my  power  to 
protect  you  and  your  work."  And  it  has  always  been  found  by 
experience  that  friendly,  informal  visits  to  the  officials  of  the 
country  will  disarm  suspicion.  As  a  rule,  the  Turkish  officials 
are  personally  friendly,  and  the  better  educated  among  them 
appreciate  the  benevolent  work  being  done  by  the  Americans  in 
the  empire. 

They  often  say,  "  We  like  you  personally  and  understand  your 
political  and  beneficial  work,  but  you  represent  a  republic.  We 
fear  the  spread  of  republican  ideas  among  our  people."  We  as- 
sure them  that  we  never  propagate  political  theories,  and  always 
teach  our  Syrian  preachers  and  teachers  to  pray  for  the  Sultan. 


XXIV 

Three  Years  of  Progress  (1888) 

Oscar  Straus — St,  Paul's  Institute — Bakir — Map  making — Jedaan — 
Kamil. 

DURING  this  year,  we  were  kept  busy  by  the  Ottoman 
government  because  of  a  series  of  orders  closing  our 
schools  on  the  ground  of  illegality  ; — that  they  had  no 
permits,  and  then  refusing  to  grant  them  permits  ;  demanding 
diplomas  of  our  teachers  and  lists  of  our  text-books  and  courses 
of  study,  when  no  such  demands  were  made  upon  other  foreign 
schools.  Consul  Bissinger  at  Beirut  and  Minister  Oscar  Straus 
at  the  Porte  fought  the  battle  out  and  obtained  finally  an  order 
from  Munif  Pasha,  Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  that  all  the 
old  established  schools  of  the  Americans  in  the  empire  be  recog- 
nized by  the  government  as  though  they  had  official  firmans. 
This  gave  us  rest  for  a  time.  But  the  new  Waly  of  Beirut,  Ali 
Riza  Pasha,  who  reached  Beirut  March  8th,  after  a  long  inter- 
view with  Mr.  Bissinger,  agreed  to  order  the  reopening  of  all  our 
recently  closed  schools  on  condition  that  only  CJiristian  children 
be  received.  Mr.  Bissinger  and  Minister  Straus  absolutely  re- 
fused to  accept  such  an  odious  condition,  and  finally  the  schools 
were  reopened  without  conditions.  Much  has  been  published 
since  that  time  and  much  has  been  done  in  the  way  of  securing 
recognition  of  the  American  schools.  The  medical  college  in 
Beirut  is  visited  every  year  by  an  imperial  medical  commission, 
who,  in  connection  with  the  American  faculty,  examine  the  stu- 
dents and  confer  upon  the  worthy  the  imperial  medical  diploma. 
Various  questions  with  regard  to  the  American  institutions  re- 
main unsettled,  but,  as  a  rule,  the  established  day-schools,  board- 
ing-schools, and  colleges  are  not  interfered  with.  Where  the 
government  refuses  a  permit,  it  is  generally  through  fear  that  a 

533 


^34  Three  Years  of  Progress 

school  or  hospital  with  a  permit  may  refuse  to  pay  taxes.  In 
this  respect,  the  Americans  would  cheerfully  pay  taxes  if  the 
institutions  of  other  nationalities  did  the  same.  But  to  be  asked 
to  do  what  no  one  else  does,  and  to  bear  burdens  which  the 
Sultan  has  excused  others  from  bearing,  savours  too  strongly  of 
injustice  and  partiality  to  be  meekly  endured  by  an  American 
official. 

In  April,  1888,  Minister  Oscar  Straus  visited  Beirut.  All  were 
impressed  with  his  intellectual  ability,  suavity  of  manner,  high- 
toned  patriotism,  legal  knowledge,  and  consummate  tact.  Our 
government  was  never  better  represented  than  by  this  American 
Israelite,  who  was,  as  he  said,  "  first  an  American  and  second  a 
Jew."  He  was  "  suaviter  in  modo,  fortiter  in  re."  His  removal 
was  a  blunder  and  an  injury  to  American  interests.  I  have  never 
ceased  to  respect  him  as  a  man  and  to  esteem  him  as  a  friend. 
No  one  could  charge  him  with  being  prejudiced  in  favour  of 
Protestant  Missions,  yet  Protestant  Missions  in  the  East  never 
had  a  more  energetic,  discreet,  or  efficient  defender.  His  con- 
victions in  favour  of  religious  liberty  are  set  forth  in  his  fine  book 
on  the  life  of  Roger  Williams.  The  vicious  and  shiftless  spoils 
system  of  political  appointment  to  our  foreign  diplomatic  serv- 
ice, which  prevailed  in  those  days  and  has  only  now  in  the  days 
of  Secretaries  Hay  and  Root  been  radically  changed,  sacrificed 
Mr.  Straus  just  when  he  was  on  the  eve  of  negotiating  a  natural- 
ization treaty  with  the  Sublime  Porte  which  would  have  saved 
both  governments  infinite  annoyance  and  constant  friction  and 
misunderstanding.  ^ 

^~  In  May  Mr.  William  Bird  accompanied  his  daughter,  Mrs. 
Alice  Greenlee,  to  America,  and  I  was  placed  in  charge  of  Abeih 
station.  I  made  frequent  trips  on  horseback  through  Southern 
Lebanon,  examining  schools,  visiting  the  churches,  and  adminis- 
tering the  ordinances. 

As  Colonel  Shepard  had  appointed  brother  Samuel  Jessup  and 
myself  members  of  the  Advisory  Board  of  St.  Paul's  Institute  at 


St.  Paul's  Institute 


535 


Tarsus,  I  went  to  Tarsus  and  Adana  in  May  with  Mrs.  Jessup  to 
attend  the  first  annual  meeting.  Rev.  Messrs.  McLachlan  and 
Jenanyan  were  the  faculty,  and  already  there  were  indications  of 
an  incompatibility  which  almost  invariably  develops  itself  where 
any  institution  in  the  East  is  placed  under  the  dual  control  of  an 
Oriental  and  an  Occidental.  Both  of  these  teachers  were  strong, 
able  men,  but  somehow  they  could  not  work  harmoniously. 
Eastern  ideas  differ  from  ours.  Where  Eastern  men,  with  funds 
raised  from  Orientals,  manage  Oriental  institutions  and  enter- 
prises, they  generally  succeed.  But  the  East  cannot  understand 
the  West  in  the  matter  of  managing  Western  funds.  Years  after 
this,  when  matters  had  twice  come  to  a  rupture,  Mr,  Jenanyan 
came  to  Beirut  and  laid  the  whole  case  before  us.  I  saw  that  the 
trouble  was  not  in  the  American  nor  in  the  Armenian,  but  in  that 
mixture  of  Occidental  alkali  with  Oriental  acid,  which  always 
produces  effervescence. 

I  then  wrote  a  long  document  to  the  New  York  Board  of 
Trustees,  which  I  read  to  Mr.  Jenanyan,  and  which  he  approved, 
advising  that  hereafter  St.  Paul's  Institute  be  made  either  wholly 
Armenian  with  Mr.  Jenanyan  at  its  head,  or  wholly  American 
with  an  American  at  its  head.  The  latter  plan  was  adopted  and 
the  school  is  a  success.  Mr.  Jenanyan  has  opened  another  school 
in  Iconium  (Konieh)  and  we  hear  no  more  of  friction  and  mis- 
understanding. 

While  in  Tarsus,  we  visited  the  reputed  tomb  of  Sardanapalus, 
the  falls  of  the  river  Cydnus,  where  Alexander  the  Great  came 
near  drowning  while  bathing ;  then  to  the  old  Western  Gate,  the 
Protestant  and  Armenian  Churches,  and  the  so-called  tomb  of 
Daniel  ! 

In  the  luxuriant  gardens  watered  by  streams  of  living  water 
from  the  Cydnus,  we  ate  for  the  first  time  the  luscious  fruit  of  the 
Akedunya  or  Medlar,  which  grows  much  larger  there  than  in 
more  southerly  climes. 

Mr.  Montgomery  of  the  American  Board  in  Adana  asked  me 
to  address  the  Wednesday  evening  meeting.  It  was  a  scene  long 
to  be  remembered.     About  one  thousand  men  and  women  were 


53^  Three  Years  of  Progress 

assembled  in  the  large  church,  all  seated  on  the  floor  on  mats. 
When  no  more  could  wedge  their  way  in,  the  pastor  asked  all  to 
rise  and  close  up  ranks,  and  then  all  sit  down  together.  The 
mass  was  thus  contracted  in  superficial  area  and  more  could  find 
sitting  room.  As  the  people  speak  only  Turkish,  I  could  not  use 
my  Arabic,  but  I  spoke  in  English  and  Mr.  Montgomery  trans- 
lated.    I  never  saw  a  more  attentive  audience. 

In  the  Adana  congregation  I  was  introduced  to  a  sprightly 
man,  who  claimed  to  be  one  hundred  and  thirteen  years  old. 
He  went  every  year  out  to  the  great  wheat  field  in  the  Adana 
plain  to  help  in  the  harvest,  but  this  year,  owing  to  the  weakness 
of  his  limbs,  the  church  had  bought  him  a  donkey  on  which  he 
rode  out  every  morning  to  the  reapers.  His  memory  of  the  days 
of  Sultan  Mahmoud  H,  and  other  notables  of  the  last  seventy  and 
eighty  years,  led  the  missionaries  to  believe  his  claim  to  be  correct. 

Dr.  Metheny  lived  at  that  time  in  Mersina.  For  years  he  had 
lived  in  Latakia  working  among  the  pagan  Nusairiyeh  and  re- 
moved to  Mersina  to  labour  for  tribes  of  the  same  people  on  the 
plain  of  Tarsus  and  Adana.  He  was  a  skillful  surgeon  and  a 
tender-hearted,  sympathizing  man. 

1  In  June  two  men  interested  in  work  among  the  Arab  tribes  of 
I  Syria  and  Arabia  visited  Beirut,  Mr.  Von  Tassel,  an  American, 
and  Bishop  Thomas  Valpy  French,  late  Bishop  of  Lahore  and 
now  resolved  to  give  the  last  of  his  life  to  Arabia.  He  made  an 
address  at  the  house  of  Mrs.  A.  Mentor  Mott  and  interested  us 
all  greatly  in  the  zeal  of  a  man,  who,  after  forty  years  of  labour 
in  North  India,  was  going  to  Muscat  on  the  Persian  Gulf  to  end 
his  days.  Dr.  Zwemer  describes  him  in  his  "  Arabia,  the  Cradle 
of  Islam,"  and  truly  his  zeal  for  the  salvation  of  the  Arabs  de- 
voured him.  Mr.  Von  Tassel  came  out  in  youthful  zeal  and  en- 
thusiasm, set  about  learning  Arabic  and  afterwards  brought  out 
a  large  camp  equipment,  intending  to  go  into  the  desert  and 
dwell  among  the  Aneyzy  Arabs,  live  their  nomad  life  summer 
and  winter,  and  identify  himself  with  them.  Under  any  other 
government  he  might  have  succeeded,  or  had  he  come  twenty 


Von  Tassel's  Frustrated  Plans  537 

years  sooner,  before  the  Ottoman  government  had  begun  to  sus- 
pect every  traveller  among  the  Bedawin  of  being  a  military  spy, 
or  a  European  agent  to  distribute  arms  among  the  Arabs  and 
raise  them  to  revolt.  But  Hassan  Bey's  filibustering  fiasco  a 
few  years  before,  and  a  growing  idea  that  the  British  are  in 
league  with  the  Arabs,  made  Mr.  Von  Tassel's  scheme  an  impos- 
sibility. When  he  landed  at  the  port  of  Tripoli,  fifty  miles  north 
of  Beirut,  his  tents  and  equipage  were  stopped  and  only  released 
after  long  delay.  A  description  of  the  man  and  all  his  baggage 
was  telegraphed  to  Constantinople.  On  reaching  Hums,  he  set 
up  his  tents  outside  the  walls,  one  of  them  a  large  triple  tent  of 
green  water-proof  canvas.  Crowds  assembled  to  see  the  sight, 
but  least  welcome  of  all  was  a  guard  of  Turkish  soldiers  ordered 
to  watch  Mr.  Von  Tassel's  every  movement  and  prevent  his  hav- 
ing any  communication  with  Arabs  of  any  tribe  in  the  region. 
He  was  thus  thoroughly  quarantined,  and  soon  orders  came  from 
the  Waly  of  Damascus  forbidding  him  to  travel  to  any  point  east 
of  Hamath,  Hums  and  Damascus.  Othello's  occupation  was 
now  gone.  He  had  not  been  sent  out  to  labour  among  towns 
and  cities  but  only  to  the  wandering  tribes  of  the  desert  who 
number  hundreds  of  thousands.  After  waiting  until  patience 
ceased  to  be  a  virtue,  he  returned  to  Beirut,  sold  out  his  tents, 
beds,  and  equipage,  and  left  the  country  in  1892.  Dr.  Ford  has 
to  this  day  (1908)  the  triple  tent  and  others  have  mementoes  of 
this  illustration  of  governmental  persecution  and  repression. 

SiTT  Miriam  and  the  Shazaliyeh 
It  was  during  this  summer  that  Sitt  Miriam,  a  Mohammedan 
lady  of  the  Shazaliyeh  sect  from  Koraun  in  the  Bookaa,  north  of 
Mount  Hermon,  set  out  on  a  preaching  tour  in  Syria.  She  ad- 
vocated reform  and  an  upright  life,  denounced  bribery  and  cor- 
ruption and  insisted  that  all,  Moslems,  Christians  and  Jews,  are 
brothers.  She  preached  in  the  mosques  in  Damascus,  Hasbeiya, 
Sidon,  Tyre,  and  other  cities,  rebuking  the  sins  of  the  people. 
Telegrams  were  sent  to  Constantinople  asking  for  orders  to 
silence  her,  but  orders  came  to  let  her  alone. 


538  Three  Years  of  Progress 

This  sect  is  numerous  in  Syria  and  its  members  advocate  the 
reading  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  and  fraternization  with 
the  Christians.  One  of  their  sheikhs  once  called  on  me,  and  in 
the  course  of  a  very  calm  conversation,  repeated  from  memory  a 
large  part  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  explaining  the  meaning  of 
the  first  chapter  in  a  peculiar,  mystic  sort  of  way  in  which  the 
true  spiritual  intent  seemed  lost  sight  of  and  vapourized.  But  the 
man  was  in  earnest  and  he  said  he  was  one  of  a  company  of 
twenty-five  who  meet  to  study  the  Bible. 

Another  eccentric  character,  who  had  been  in  Beirut  several 
years,  was  banished  in  September,  He  was  a  Persian  named 
Bakir,  and  professed  to  have  discovered  a  new  compromise  re- 
ligion on  which  Moslems,  Christians,  and  Jews  could  unite.  He 
had  lived  in  England  and  came  to  Beirut  as  a  Christian  in  1884 
and  asked  aid  for  his  sick  wife  who  was  placed  in  St.  John's  hos- 
pital. March  5,  1885,  Rev.  Dr.  H.  A.  Nelson,  who  was  visiting 
Beirut,  had  hired  Bakir  to  translate  into  English  a  Persian  fare- 
well address  presented  to  Dr.  Nelson  during  his  recent  visit  to 
the  missions  in  Persia,  and  Bakir  brought  the  translation  to  my 
house  to  read  it  to  Dr.  Nelson.  Bakir  had  with  him  a  package 
of  tracts  in  English  setting  forth  his  peculiar  mystic  incongruous 
views  on  religion  and  gave  them  to  Dr.  Nelson.  The  doctor 
took  his  hand  to  say  good-bye  and  said  in  substance,  "  I  thank 
you  for  your  translation,  and  am  soon  to  leave  for  America.  We 
may  not  meet  in  this  world,  but  I  hope  that  through  the  merits 
of  Jesus  Christ,  our  atoning  Saviour  and  Redeemer,  we  may  meet 
at  the  last  in  the  heavenly  home  on  high."  Bakir  flew  back,  his 
eyes  flashed  fire,  and  he  screamed  so  loud  that  the  cook  came 
running  in  from  the  kitchen  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  He 
raved  and  shouted,  "  I  scorn  your  Christ,  your  atonement,  your 
sacrifice.  You  Christians  are  idolaters,  the  enemies  of  God,  and 
accursed.  Let  me  hear  no  more  of  salvation  through  the  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ.  No,  we  shall  not  meet  above  unless  you  receive 
Mohammed  as  the  Prophet  of  God  ! "  His  language  at  times 
was  too  coarse  and  vile  to  bear  repetition.  I  tried  to  soothe  him 
and  change  the  subject,  but  he  acted  like  a  lunatic  and  stamped 


No  More  Death  !  539 

across  the  court  and  out  of  the  house,  shouting  and  storming  un- 
til the  whole  neighbourhood  was  roused,  and  we  were  glad  to  get 
rid  of  him.  He  worked  upon  the  young  son  of  Ramiz  Beg,  the 
Kadi  of  Beirut,  and  was  forming  a  society  of  religious  reform  (!) 
on  the  basis  of  a  union  of  Islam  and  Christianity  by  all  Christians 
becoming  Moslems.  The  old  story  of  the  hon  and  lamb  lying 
down  together,  the  lamb  inside  the  lion ; — but  Bakir  was  reported 
by  telegraph  to  Constantinople  and  both  he  and  the  kadi's  son, 
Jemal-ed-Din,  were  banished,  Bakir  in  September  and  the  other 
youth  at  a  later  date. 

The  East  is  still  fertile  soil  for  religious  vagaries,  but  the  West 
bids  fair  to  bear  off  the  palm.  One  only  needs  to  spend  a  month 
in  Jerusalem  to  see  and  hear  of  men  and  women  from  the  West 
who  have  views,  who  are  inspired,  who  out-Dowie  Dowie,  and 
who  have  visions  and  gifts  of  prophecy. 

Some  years  ago,  a  friend  of  mine  visiting  Jerusalem  met  a 
queer-looking  solitary  stranger  pacing  back  and  forth  in  the 
streets  of  the  Holy  City  and  accosted  him,  and  after  the  usual 
greetings,  said  to  him,  "  You  are  an  American,  I  infer."  "  Yes, 
I  am."  "  And  what  are  you  doing  here,  if  I  may  ask?  "  "  Ah, 
yes,  I'm  glad  you  asked.  You  see  I've  come  here  to  preach  the 
new  doctrine,  that  there  is  to  be  no  more  death.  If  men  will 
only  accept  it,  we'll  abolish  death  and  there'll  be  no  more  dying, 
nor  graves,  nor  coffins,  nor  funerals.  We  shall  just  hve  right 
on."  Our  friend  said  to  him,  "  But  supposing  you  should  sicken 
and  die,  what  then  ? "  "  Oh,"  said  he,  "  that  would  bust  the 
whole  thing  !  "  And  it  did.  The  poor  delirious  apostle  died  a 
few  months  later  and  with  him  his  "  new  doctrine." 

October  26th  Professor  Hilprecht,  who  was  on  his  way  to 
Bagdad,  asked  me  to  go  with  him  to  the  Dog  River  to  find  if 
possible  a  Latin  inscription  discovered  by  Professor  Paine  but  not 
identified  since.  As  I  had  not  seen  it  for  several  years,  I  doubted 
my  ability  to  find  it.  But  by  dint  of  examining  every  rock  face 
along  the  old  Roman  road,  at  length,  about  eighteen  paces  east 
of  the  stone  pedestal  on  the  summit,  I  found  the  smooth  surface 


540  Three  Years  of  Progress 

of  the  limestone  rock  and  the  traces  of  the  inscription.  Professor 
Hilprecht  proceeded  to  take  a  "  squeeze  "  of  it  and  found  it  to  be 
an  inscription  often  lines,  mostly  effaced. 

He  also  read  the  famous  so-called  Sennacherib  cuneiform  in- 
scription, and  found  it  to  be  of  Esar  Haddon  and  not  Sennacherib. 
Across  the  river  next  to  the  mill  is  the  inscription  in  cuneiform 
characters  of  the  great  Nebuchadnezzar,  in  which  the  principal 
sentence  remaining  unobliterated  reads,  "  the  wine  of  Helbon  is 
good  " — showing  that  the  people  of  Helbon,  north  of  Damascus, 
who  to  this  day  have  fruitful  vineyards,  brought  over  wine  to  the 
King  of  Babylon  and  he  immortalized  again  the  wine  already 
made  famous  by  the  prophet  Ezekiel  (27  :  18)  in  speaking  of  the 
widely-extended  commerce  of  Tyre :  "  Damascus  was  thy  mer- 
chant in  the  wine  of  Helbon  and  white  wool." 

During  the  year  1888  I  rode  on  horseback  in  frequent  tours 
nearly  six  hundred  miles  through  the  gorges  and  ridges  of  Mount 
Lebanon. 

Mr.  Bird  returned  from  America  in  December,  Rev.  and  Mrs. 
W.  S.  Nelson  arrived  with  Miss  Holmes  for  Tripoli,  and  the  mis- 
sionary corps  was  well  reinforced. 

In  December,  with  an  expert  scribe,  I  made  a  new  Arabic  map 
of  Syria  which  was  lithographed  at  our  Beirut  Press. 

Map  making  in  general  is  difficult  in  this  empire.  You  must 
not  allow  the  word  Armenia  to  appear  in  any  map  or  atlas  of 
ancient  or  modern  Turkey.  Neither  will  it  do  to  make  a  map 
"  of  many  colours,"  as  is  the  rule  in  all  maps  made  in  civilized 
countries.  We  made  a  map  of  the  Ottoman  Empire,  Egypt,  and 
Arabia,  and  had  copies  neatly  coloured,  showing  clearly  the  out- 
lines of  the  different  provinces  and  presented  one  to  the  Governor 
of  Beirut  and  another  to  the  "  Mudir  el  Maarif,"  or  Superintendent 
of  Public  Instruction.  They  were  both  brought  back  by  the 
mudir,  who  indignantly  asked, "  Why  is  Egypt  coloured  one  colour 
and  Syria  another  and  Arabia  another  and  Asia  Minor  another? 
Do  they  not  all  belong  to  the  Sultan  ?  " 

It  would  not  do  to  insult  the  zealous  official  by  laughing  in  his 


JBDAAN  THE  BEDAWY 


Conversion  of  Jedaan,  the  Bedawy  541 

face,  but  we  apologized  and  explained  and  humbly  promised 
hereafter  to  make  Egypt  and  Arabia  the  same  colour  as  the  rest 
of  the  empire.  A  polychrome  means  to  the  watchful  officials 
polyglot  and  poly  national  and  polypolitics.  So  we  try  to  con- 
form to  the  laws  and  avoid  having  our  press  suppressed  by  using 
anything  beyond  a  monochrome. 

From  their  standpoint,  Turkey  is  a  unit.  All  subjects  are 
Osmanlies,  and  the  great  father  in  Constantinople  will  have  noth- 
ing of  Arab  or  Egyptian  or  Armenian  or  Macedonian.  All  are 
Ottoman  subjects  and  divisions,  names  and  designations  are  abso- 
lutely prohibited.  We  have  no  fault  to  find  with  this.  We  are 
strangers  and  the  guests  of  the  Sultan,  and  we  are  bound  in 
honour  to  conform  to  the  laws.  This  we  have  always  done  and 
intend  to  do  in  the  future.  We  really  enjoy  greater  liberty  than 
the  native  subjects  of  the  Porte.  It  is  hard  to  see  the  people 
around  us  taxed  and  overtaxed,  oppressed  and  outraged  by  un- 
scrupulous petty  officials  with  no  appeal.  This  to  me  has  been 
my  greatest  trial  of  my  fifty  years  in  Syria,  to  see  wrongs  which 
you  cannot  right  and  sufferings  which  you  cannot  relieve,  while 
the  American  flag  protects  our  persons  and  frees  us  from  op- 
pression. 

1889 — On  the  1 6th  of  January,  my  brother-in-law,  Radcliffe  B. 
Lockwood,  Esq.,  of  Binghamton,  accompanied  me  on  a  horse- 
back trip  sixty  miles  south  to  visit  the  out-stations  and  conduct 
a  communion  service  in  Ibl,  west  of  Mount  Hermon. 

February  2 1st  I  baptized  Jedaan  Owad,  the  converted  Aneyzy 
Bedawy,  a  fine,  clear-headed,  sensible  young  man  who  had  been 
under  instruction  for  two  years.  He  came  to  Lebanon  to  sell 
sheep,  fell  in  with  Christians,  determined  to  learn  to  read,  perse- 
vered, and  at  length  became  convinced  that  salvation  was  in 
Christ  alone.  He  afterwards  studied  in  the  school  at  Suk  el 
Gharb,  and,  while  a  fellow  student  with  Kamil,  made  a  tour  with 
him  among  the  Arab  tribes,  summering  near  Hums  and  Hamath, 
and  then  returned  to  his  tribe.  For  nineteen  years  he  has  stood 
firm,  coming  to  visit  his  Christian  friends  every  year. 


^^2  Three  Years  of  Progress 

In  March  I  visited  Egypt  with  a  party  of  friends  as  their  guest, 
and  preached  in  Alexandria,  Cairo,  Asioot,  Luxor,  and  Assowan. 
The  Egyptian  pronunciation  of  the  Arabic  differs  from  the 
Syrian,  but  I  had  no  difficulty  in  understanding  them  and  they 
seemed  to  understand  me. 

On  the  29th  of  May,  1888,  we  received  the  official  "  Permit  " 
for  the  American  Press,  which  had  existed  since  1834,  a  term  of 
fifty-four  years.  In  accepting  this  permit,  Dr.  Samuel  Jessup 
agreed  to  abide  by  the  press  laws  of  the  empire,  which  we  had 
always  done  since  finding  out  what  these  laws  were. 

June  1 2th  my  brother  Samuel  sailed  for  America  on  furlough, 
and  on  his  arrival,  was  appointed  assistant  secretary  of  the  Board 
during  the  absence  of  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell  on  his  journey  around 
the  world.  Mr.  Pond  and  family  also  returned  to  America  and 
subsequently  laboured  in  Colombia  and  Venezuela.  Dr.  Ira 
Harris  and  family  returned  from  America  July  15th. 

In  July  the  Waly,  Rauf  Pasha,  removed  to  Bitlis  and  Aziz 
Pasha  came  in  his  place. 

It  was  my  painful  duty  to  go  to  the  custom-house  and  bid 
farewell  to  forty-six  English  books  which  had  been  ordered  by 
various  American  citizens,  but  which  were  refused  admission  to 
this  empire  as  being  "  dangerous,  obnoxious,  and  unsafe."  At 
first  the  censor  resolved  to  burn  them,  but  at  the  protest  of  our 
consul,  changed  the  sentence  from  burning  at  the  stake  to  exile. 
Even  exile  was  no  easy  matter.  The  box  was  sealed  and  a  list 
of  the  books  given  to  the  censor  for  transmission  to  the  Turkish 
consul  in  New  York  who  was  to  be  notified  by  the  treasurer  of 
the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  to  be  present  at  the  opening  at 
the  New  York  custom-house,  and  to  give  a  certificate  (and  re- 
ceive his  fee)  that  the  very  books  which  were  banished  from 
Syria  had  reached  New  York.  Among  them  were  the  Koran, 
"  The  Land  and  the  Book,"  Stanley's  "  Sinai  and  Palestine," 
"  Minutes  of  the  General  Assembly,"  "  Catalogue  of  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary,"  "  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament,"  "  His- 
tory of  Russia,"  "  History  of  Persia,"  etc. 

We  bade  them  farewell  with  the  confident  hope  of  seeing  them 


A  Dollar's  Worth  of  Eulogy  543 

again  some  day,  and  we  did  see  them.  The  New  York  agent, 
Mr.  Dulles,  after  receiving  the  books,  wrapped  them  in  packages 
and  sent  them  by  the  French  mail  via  Paris,  and  in  due  time  they 
all  arrived  and  were  delivered  to  their  respective  owners,  costing 
^2.90  postage  in  all.  Not  one  of  them  contained  a  word  con- 
trary to  law  or  good  morals,  or  an  attack  on  the  Turkish  gov- 
ernment. 

In  September  the  Turkish  authorities  began  a  new  campaign 
against  our  schools  and  closed  the  Hamath  school  by  force.  The 
instigator  of  this  action,  as  has  generally  been  the  case  in  that 
district,  was  the  Greek  bishop,  who  bribed  the  local  officials,  and 
thus  secured  the  closing  of  the  school.  The  school  was  after- 
wards reopened  after  long  correspondence  and  telegraphing  to 
Constantinople. 

In  August  an  interesting  character  called,  a  Syrian  Moham- 
medan, Jaafar  Mohammed.  He  had  been  fourteen  years  in  Irak 
and  Teheran  and  had  been  twice  in  prison  for  associating  with 
Christians.  I  gave  him  a  Testament  and  he  set  forth,  bound,  as 
he  said,  for  Algiers  and  Morocco.  He  claimed  to  be  a  Christian 
and  was  well  acquainted  with  the  Scriptures.  While  in  Beirut 
he  wrote  a  Kosidi,  or  Arabic  poem  in  praise  of  me,  and  an  elegy 
on  my  father  and  grandfather,  in  the  most  effervescent  panegyric. 
As  he  probably  did  it  in  imitation  of  the  old  Arab  poets,  who 
recited  poetry  before  the  caliphs  of  Bagdad  to  receive  largesses 
of  money,  I  could  not  do  less  than  give  him  a  mejeedie  or  Turkish 
dollar  to  help  him  on  his  way.  I  think  he  inflicted  a  similar 
poem  on  Dr.  Van  Dyck.  Not  a  few  men  of  his  stamp  are  con- 
stantly floating  restlessly  about  the  East,  They  may  be  sincere. 
The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  His,  and  the  intolerant  spirit 
of  Islam  will  not  allow  an  "  apostate  "  to  dwell  in  peace  among 
them,  and  this  intolerance  is  a  confession  of  weakness.  Neither 
Rome  nor  Mecca  will  let  alone  a  convert  from  their  ranks. 
Protestantism  is  virtually  the  only  non-persecuting  system  of 
modern  times,  for  it  has  long  since  repudiated  the  use  of  force  in 
religion.     There  will  never  be  another  Servetus  tragedy. 


544  Three  Years  of  Progress 

In  November  Rev.  O.  J.  Hardin  returned  to  Syria  and  occupied 
the  Suk  el  Gharb  station,  nine  miles  from  Beirut  on  a  spur  of 
Lebanon,  2,500  feet  above  the  sea,  thus  maintaining  the  work 
begun  by  Mr.  Pond,  and  reopening  the  boys'  boarding-school. 

During  the  fall  Beirut  was  visited  by  another  epidemic  of  the 
dengue  fever  called  by  the  Arabs  Abu  Rikab  or  "  father  of  the 
knees,"  a  short,  painful  fever,  never  fatal,  but  leaving  the  system 
greatly  debilitated.  Thousands  of  cases  were  reported  in  Beirut 
and  both  Drs.  Van  Dyck  and  Post  were  prostrated  by  it. 

We  were  in  Aleih,  Mount  Lebanon,  and  had  the  privilege  of 
opening  our  house  to  our  beloved  missionary  brother,  Rev.  Dr. 
Harvey  of  Cairo,  who  was  suffering  from  malarial  fever.  His 
daughter  was  with  him,  and  he  improved  steadily.  Dr.  Wells 
gave  him  seventy  grains  of  quinine  and  the  fever  was  broken. 
Not  long  after.  Dr.  Wells  was  taken  down  with  Abu  Rikab  in 
Beirut. 

About  this  time  the  little  son  of  one  of  the  missionaries  made 
considerable  amusement  by  trying  an  original  prescription  for 
fever.  A  missionary  from  Arabia  was  lying  sick  at  his  father's 
house,  and  one  day  the  little  fellow  came  to  his  bedside  with  a 
measuring-tape  and  began  to  measure  him.  "  What  are  you 
doing  ?  "  said  the  invalid. 

•'  I  am  measuring  you  so  as  to  make  you  a  coffin." 

"  Why  do  you  do  that  ?  " 

"  Because  it  will  cure  you.  My  rabbit  was  ill  and  father  said  he 
was  going  to  die.  So  I  made  him  a  coffin  and  put  him  in,  but 
he  jumped  out  and  ran  off  and  after  that  he  was  perfectly  well. 
So  I  thought  I  would  make  you  a  coffin  and  you  would  get  well ! " 
(He  did  !) 

In  September  Dr.  Harris  Graham,  of  the  American  Board's 
Mission  in  Aleppo,  accepted  a  call  to  the  medical  department  of 
the  Syrian  Protestant  College. 

News  came  of  a  great  revival  of  religion  in  Aintab  and  600 
conversions.  That  city  has  been  marvellously  blessed  with  re- 
vivals, and  its  three  churches  are  models  of  liberality  and  Chris- 


Mary  Eddy's  Consecration  to  Her  Great  Work     ^^^ 

tian  work.  No  such  congregation  can  be  found  anywhere  else  in 
the  Turkish  Empire  and  the  pastors  have  been  men  of  learning 
and  spiritual  power. 

During  this  year  I  had  charge  of  the  press,  reading  proofs, 
conducting  all  the  business  correspondence,  ordering  materials, 
and  paying  the  men.  The  custom-house  business  was  large  and 
consumed  much  valuable  time,  but  it  must  be  done,  and  this 
pressure  on  the  time  of  ordained  missionaries  led  the  mission  to 
insist  on  the  sending  out  of  a  Christian  layman  with  a  business 
training,  to  take  up  this  entire  secular  work.  This  was  effected 
in  1895,  when  Mr.  E.  G.  Freyer,  the  present  able  and  efficient 
manager  of  the  press,  came  to  Beirut  and  has  continued  to  do 
the  work  to  the  satisfaction  of  both  the  mission  and  the  Board. 

In  October  an  event  occurred  which  was  striking  in  itself  and 
far-reaching  in  its  results.  Miss  Mary  P.  Eddy,  daughter  of  Dr. 
W.  W.  Eddy,  was  dangerously  ill  with  high  burning  fever  and  an 
alarming  temperature  which  yielded  to  no  remedies,  until  Drs. 
Van  Dyck,  father  and  son,  pronounced  the  case  hopeless.  She 
asked  the  prayers  of  the  native  and  foreign  Protestant  Churches, 
and  one  by  one,  bade  farewell  to  all  her  friends.  She  lingered 
on,  seemingly  on  the  brink  of  dissolution,  when  suddenly  an  ab- 
scess broke,  relief  came,  a  large  number  of  gall-stones  were  re- 
moved, and  convalescence  set  in.  During  her  illness  she  had 
resolved  that  if  she  were  spared,  she  would  study  medicine  and 
devote  herself  to  relieving  the  sufferings  of  the  women  of  Syria. 
On  her  recovery,  she  went  to  America,  completed  her  studies, 
received  her  diploma,  came  to  Constantinople,  and  after  over- 
coming the  seeming  insurmountable  difficulties  and  objections  of 
the  imperial  medical  faculty,  passed  the  severe  examinations  and 
received  the  imperial  diploma  as  physician  and  surgeon  ;  the  only 
woman  thus  far  who  has  been  permitted  to  receive  the  imperial 
diploma.  Up  to  the  year  1908  she  has  visited  hundreds  of  villages, 
treated  thousands  of  cases,  and  wherever  she  goes,  she  is  sur- 
rounded by  throngs  of  the  impotent  folk  begging  for  treatment. 


546  Three  Years  of  Progress 

Now  appeared  on  the  scene  what  seemed  to  be  two  tall  white 
turbaned  Moors  with  black  burnouses,  no  stockings,  and  red 
pointed  shoes.  They  called  on  me  and  stated  that  they  were 
missionaries  to  Morocco  in  Mogador.  One,  Baldwin,  was  an 
American,  and  the  other,  Richmond,  an  Englishman.  They 
always  wore  the  native  dress.  They  set  out  from  Morocco  to 
come  to  Syria  first,  to  seek  Syrian  Christian  helpers  to  go  back 
with  them,  and  to  arrange  to  send  out  their  young  missionaries 
to  Syria  to  learn  Arabic,  preparatory  to  work  in  Morocco.  They 
said  they  left  Morocco  in  white  woollen  ahbas  or  burnouses,  but 
they  were  so  blackened  by  coal  smoke  that  they  had  them  dyed 
black  at  Port  Said. 

But  their  whole  appearance  was  impressive.  They  looked  like 
dervishes  or  fakirs.  One  missionary  lady,  who  invited  them  to 
dinner,  said  afterwards  that  when  they  entered  her  house  and  she 
saw  their  John-the-Baptist-in-the-wilderness  appearance,  she  felt 
she  ought  to  provide  for  them  a  repast  of  locusts  and  wild  honey ! 

I  took  them  to  the  college  and  the  theological  classes  where 
their  addresses  in  English  (they  had  not  learned  the  Arabic)  were 
translated  and  deeply  affected  the  students.  Their  ascetic  mien 
and  devout  language  impressed  us  all,  and  one  young  Syrian, 
Hassan  Soleyman,  volunteered  to  go  with  them  to  Morocco.  On 
November  27th  Mr.  Baldwin  sailed  for  Morocco  and  Mr.  Rich- 
mond went  to  Suk  el  Gharb  to  study  Arabic.  On  Sunday  Mr. 
Baldwin  preached  in  English  on  Isaiah  6,  and  in  the  afternoon  ad- 
dressed a  mass  meeting  of  Sunday-school  children  calling  for 
twelve  volunteer  Syrian  missionaries,  who  would  go  to  Morocco 
in  faith  without  any  pledged  support.  He  told  of  the  dozens  of 
Mohammedans  whom  he  had  baptized  and  the  glorious  results  of 
his  work. 

He  afterwards  sent  out  two  fine  young  Englishmen  to  study 
Arabic  in  Mount  Lebanon.  He  then  began  to  publish  in  the 
London  Christian  a  series  of  articles  on  "  the  Matthew  10  theory 
of  missions  "  ;  that  foreign  missionaries  should  go  forth  with 
neither  purse  nor  scrip,  dress  Hke  the  natives  and  live  on  the 
natives  with  no  salary,  trusting  m  God.     He  clinched  his  argu- 


The  Baldwin  Bubble  547 

ments  by  his  asserted  actual  experience,  in  that,  by  going  from  town 
to  town,  sleeping  in  the  mosques  and  coming  close  to  the  people, 
he  had  won  over  the  Moslems  to  Christ  and  baptized  them  in  large 
numbers.  The  articles  attracted  attention,  indeed  made  a  sensa- 
tion. Various  missionaries  wrote,  controverting  his  theory  and 
insisting  that  the  twelve  disciples  whom  Christ  sent  forth  were 
natives  of  the  land,  knew  the  language  perfectly,  and  that  the 
customs  of  Oriental  hospitality  were,  as  at  the  present  day,  af- 
fording a  native  shelter,  food,  and  lodging  without  expense,  but 
that  there  is  no  evidence  that  the  apostles  acted  on  this  principle 
in  journeys  to  Asia  Minor,  Greece,  and  Italy. 

He  also  wrote  to  the  Missionary  Review  that  virtually  nothing 
is  being  done  for  the  Moslems  of  Syria.  I  wrote  at  the  time  to 
Rev.  Henry  Grattan  Guinness  that  the  whole  system  of  missions 
in  this  empire  is  designed  to  reach  eventually  the  Mohammedans 
whenever  the  door  of  religious  liberty  is  opened,  that  accounts  of 
converted  Moslems  cannot  be  published,  and  moreover  that  the 
Word  of  God,  Christian  books.  Christian  education,  Christian 
example,  and  private  conversation  will  effect  vastly  more  than 
spasmodic  efforts  and  hasty  tours,  especially  when  made  by  those 
comparatively  ignorant  of  the  language. 

The  discussion  waxed  warm.  But  at  length  the  bubble  burst. 
Good  men  sent  out  from  England  travelled  through  Morocco, 
looking  for  Mr.  Baldwin's  converts  in  order  to  report  the  glo- 
rious news  of  converted  Moslems  to  the  Christian  world.  But 
alas,  not  one  could  be  found.  Mr.  Baldwin  had  never  learned  the 
Arabic  language  so  as  to  preach.  He  had  done  all  through  an 
interpreter,  and  that  a  gay  deceiver,  who  induced  Moslems  to 
accept  baptism  by  Mr.  Baldwin,  either  as  a  joke  or  for  a  buck- 
sheesh,  and  thus  the  whole  claim  of  the  great  success  of  a  "  Mat- 
thew 10  "  policy  vanished  like  the  "  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision." 
The  revulsion  of  feeling  in  England  and  Scotland  was  painful, 
and  the  whole  mission  was  reorganized  by  level-headed  men  who 
set  about  learning  the  language.  Mr.  Baldwin  left  Morocco, 
having  abandoned  his  wife,  and  brought  a  number  of  his  children 
to  Beirut.     Dr.  Mackie  asked  him  to  preach,  though  with  some 


548  Three  Years  of  Progress 

misgivings.  His  sermon  was  a  painful  exhibition  of  a  mind  par- 
tially disordered,  full  of  dark,  pessimistic  forebodings.  He  de- 
clared that  the  dispensation  of  preaching  the  Gospel  had  come  to 
an  end  ;  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  withdrawn  from  the  earth ; 
that  all  things  were  going  to  the  bad,  and  Christians  now  should 
give  up  all  teaching  and  preaching  and  sit  down  and  wait  the 
appearing  of  the  Lord.  His  Morocco  fiasco  was  either  the  cause 
or  the  result  of  his  dark  inky  despair.  Only  one  step  remained. 
In  spite  of  the  protests  and  entreaties  of  his  children,  he  went  to 
Jerusalem,  joined  the  Spaffordite  colony,  and  there  he  has  re- 
mained "sitting"  until  this  day,  resisting  the  earnest  request  of 
his  wife,  his  daughter,  and  son-in-law  to  "  come  out  from  among 
them." 

The  lessons  to  be  learned  from  this  sad  history  are  various.  First, 
every  missionary  should  master  the  language  before  attempting 
to  preach,  and  avoid  interpreters.  Second,  the  Moslem  citadel  is 
not  to  be  taken  by  theories  but  by  faithful  instruction,  personal 
acquaintance,  and  persevering  effort.  Third,  that  missionaries 
should  be  sure  of  their  facts  before  publishing  them  to  the  world. 

Just  as  the  year  was  closing,  we  were  refreshed  by  a  visit  from 
Rev.  D.  Stuart  Dodge  and  his  wonderful,  dear  mother,  who  at 
her  advanced  age  was  full  of  vigour  and  vivacity,  abounding  in 
good  works,  affable  and  courteous  to  all,  and  enduring  "  func- 
tions "  and  journeys  with  as  little  apparent  fatigue  as  her  active 
and  energetic  son  Stuart.  His  presence  has  been  always  felt  to  be  a 
benediction  by  all  Christian  workers  in  Syria,  and  the  college 
owes  more  to  him  than  his  modesty  will  allow  to  be  made 
public. 

At  the  same  time  arrived  Dr.  T.  D.  Tallmage,  Mrs.  Tallmage, 
and  their  daughter  Mary.  On  Christmas  day.  Dr.  Tallmage 
preached  in  the  church  a  Christmas  sermon  to  one  of  the  greatest 
crowds  ever  assembled  in  Beirut,  His  text  was,  "  Glory  to  God 
in  the  highest,  on  earth  peace,  good  will  to  men,"  and  his  fer- 
vent eloquence  and  evangelical  spirit  kept  the  audience  spell- 
bound.    It  was  a  fitting  close  of  the  year  1889. 


Suppressing  a  Religious  Paper  549 

1890 — The  year  1890  was  marked  by  several  notable  events, 
the  fiftieth  year  jubilee  of  Dr.  Van  Dyck,  the  conversion  of  that 
beautiful  Moslem  youth,  Kamil,  the  suppression  of  our  Neshrah 
journal,  and  the  visit  of  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell  of  the  Board  of  For- 
eign Missions. 

For  "  ways  that  are  dark,"  the  officials  of  Beirut  are  "  peculiar." 
They  have  laws  enough,  and  good  ones,  the  Islamic  Sheria,  a 
system  well  adapted  to  the  Arabs  in  Mohammed's  time,  and  the 
Code  Napoleon,  which  covers  modern  law,  civil  and  commercial. 
But  the  execution  of  the  laws  is  done  in  a  manner  which  the 
Orientals  seem  to  understand,  but  which  we  Occidental  strangers 
fail  to  comprehend. 

The  press  censor  in  Beirut,  who  was  at  that  time  the  Maktoubji,  or 
letter  writer  for  the  Waly,  knew  that  all  journals,  newspapers,  etc., 
must  have  an  official  irade  or  permit  from  Constantinople.  Now, 
according  to  the  strict  letter,  that  law  was  enacted  in  1869,  but 
was  not  translated  into  Arabic  for  many  years  after,  and  then 
was  so  largely  ignored  that  various  high  officials  had  never  heard 
of  it. 

The  Amerian  Mission  weekly  Neshrah  had  been  published  for 
twenty-five  years,  and  copies  sent  every  week  to  the  censor  for 
approval  before  printing,  and  two  copies  to  the  Ministry  of  Edu- 
cation in  Constantinople.  It  antedated  the  press  laws  by  four 
years  and  no  objection  had  ever  been  made  to  it.  In  equity,  the 
fact  that  the  government  at  Constantinople  had  kept  copies  on 
file  during  all  these  years  constituted  a  permit.  But  the  Beirut 
censor,  finding  that  we  had  no  official  irade  for  the  paper,  de- 
cided that  we  must  have  one.  The  Occidental  way  would  have 
been  to  inform  us  that  as  the  law  required  a  permit,  we  must 
apply  for  one  and  ample  time  would  be  given  us  to  secure  one 
from  Constantinople.  But  men  do  not  always  think  alike.  On 
January  4th,  I  was  summoned  to  the  seraia,  and  informed  that 
the  Neshrah  was  suppressed  temporarily  for  printing  in  No.  46 
an  obnoxious  telegram.  I  asked,  "  Which  telegram  ?  "  The  of- 
ficer on  duty  did  not  know.     Two  days  later  came  a  letter  from 


j-^o  Three  Years  of  Progress 

the  Maktoubji  ordering  the  stoppage  of  the  paper  on  account  of 
printing  a  telegram  which  alluded  to  the  British  ambassador  at 
the  Porte.  On  examination,  I  found  that  this  telegram  was 
copied  from  the  Lisan,  Arabic  journal  in  Beirut,  and  three  other 
papers  had  printed  it  without  objection  from  the  censor.  When 
I  had  confronted  the  official  with  this  fact  and  showed  him  the 
other  journals,  he  said,  "  That  makes  no  difference.  You  are 
suspended."  I  then  went  with  Dr.  Graham,  who  speaks  Turkish, 
to  call  on  the  Waly  Aziz  Pasha.  He  was  most  courteous,  and 
promised  to  telegraph  in  two  days  to  Constantinople  to  have  the 
order  rescinded.  We  were  then  ordered  to  publish  in  the  coming 
issue  of  our  paper  the  government  "  Ikhtar,"  or  order  of  sup- 
pression. After  this,  on  January  25th,  the  Mudir  el  Maarif  sent 
word  that  I  must  draw  up  a  legal  petition,  to  be  approved  by  all 
the  requisite^  bureaus  at  the  seraia,  asking  permission  to  publish 
a  journal,  and  that  he  would  forward  it  to  Constantinople.  This 
official  was  most  courteous,  liberal  minded,  and  obliging,  and 
we  deeply  regretted  his  subsequent  removal  to  another  part  of 
the  empire. 

On  the  29th,  after  various  consultations  and  finally  securing 
the  legal  form  for  such  a  petition,  I  signed  it  and  had  my  sig- 
nature authenticated  in  the  American  consulate,  and  then  took 
it  to  the  mudir.  He  examined  it,  pronounced  it  correct,  and 
then  said,  "  Take  it  now  to  the  prefect  of  poUce  for  his  signature 
and  seal." 

In  my  unsophisticated  inexperience,  I  asked,  "  Why  ?  " 

He  smiled  and  said,  "  It  is  the  law  that  a  journalji  must  give 
evidence  that  he  is  not  a  criminal,  has  not  been  arrested,  and 
that  his  portrait  is  not  in  the  rogues'  gallery.  Only  the  pohce 
can  give  this  testimony." 

I  went  to  the  chief's  office.  He  was  out.  I  went  again  and 
again  and  finally  found  him.  He  looked  surprised  and  I  handed 
him  the  document.  He  very  promptly  called  his  clerk,  who 
wrote  in  Turkish  the  usual  form  and  then  signed  and  sealed  it 
and  said  to  me,  "  It  is  all  right.  Now  please  take  it  to  the  Bash 
Katib,  or  chief  clerk  of  the  Mejlis  el  Idarat  or  Political  Council." 


Perseverantia  Omnia  Vincit  551 

I  had  with  me  our  ever  faithful  and  polite  press  secretary,  Mr. 
A.  KheiruUah.  He  knew  that  Bash  Katib,  but  he  was  out.  His 
office  boy  said  to  come  at  2  p.  m.  We  returned  home  and  came 
at  two.  He  was  then  at  a  meeting  of  the  Mejlis  with  closed 
doors.  "  Come  bokra  "  (to-morrow).  We  came  the  next  day 
and  sat  an  hour  and  finally  secured  him.  He  looked  over  the 
document,  said  it  was  all  right,  took  a  copy  of  it  and  its  number, 
date,  and  signature,  and  then  wrote  his  part  of  the  complex 
commentary  and  affixed  the  seal  of  the  great  Mejlis.     "  That  is  all 

straight,"  said  he.     '*  Now,  please  take  it  to Effendi,  Mudir 

en  Nefoos  "  (director  of  the  Bureau  of  Vital  Statistics). 

In  this  office  are  innumerable  volumes  of  records  containing 
the  names  of  all  Beirut  subjects  of  the  Porte  and  foreigners. 
The  lists  of  the  foreigners  are  supplied  annually  by  the  foreign 
consuls.  The  old  effendi  was  a  model  of  suavity,  ordered  coffee, 
and  treated  us  as  friends.  After  a  thousand  effusive  salutations 
and  compliments,  he  asked  if  he  could  serve  us.  We  handed 
him  the  petition,  which  he  looked  at  carefully.  He  then  rang 
a  bell  and  called  for  a  "  deftar,"  or  record  book,  which  his  clerk 
found  after  turning  over  a  big  pile  of  similarly  bound  books  in 
the  corner.  The  effendi  found  the  right  page  in  his  register  of 
foreigners  resident  in  Beirut,  and  then  catechized  me. 

"  Your  name?  " 

"  Henry  H.  Jessup." 

"  Your  age  ?  " 

"  Fifty-eight." 

"  Your  father's  name  ?  " 

"  William." 

"  Your  wife's  name  ?" 

"  Theodosia." 

"  How  many  children  have  you  ?  " 

"  Eight." 

"  Their  names  ?  " 

"  Anna,  William,  Henry,  Stuart,  Mary,  Amy,  Ethel,  and 
Frederick." 

"  Right,"  said  he.     "  You  are  the  man.     You  are  all  right— 


552  Three  Years  of  Progress 

no  arrears  of  taxes  charged  against  you."  He  then  read  the 
petition,  scanned  the  previous  notes  and  seals,  and  then  endorsed 
his  own  "  no  objection "  on  it  and  affixed  his  seal,  and  re- 
marked, "  This  must  now  go  to  the  Bash  Katib  of  the  Court 
of  First  Instance." 

We  could  not  imagine  what  that  worthy  had  to  do  with  it,  but 
we  had  to  go,  found  him  at  lunch,  waited  for  him.  He  apolo- 
gized for  detaining  us,  looked  over  the  paper,  declared  it  all  right 
and  regular,  and  affixed  his  views  and  his  seal.  I  began  to  fear 
the  paper  would  not  hold  many  more  certificates  of  approval, 
and  also  to  feel  that  I  was  getting  to  be  a  well  authenticated  and 
recommended  individual.  He  handed  me  the  document,  now 
spotted  with  seals,  and  politely  remarked,  pointing  across  the 
corridor,  "  This  will  now  have  to  be  submitted  to  the  prosecuting 
attorney — such  and  such  an  effendi."  "  Certainly,"  we  re- 
sponded, and  away  we  went.  What,  now,  would  this  functionary 
do  ?  We  found  him  in  his  office,  an  educated  gentleman.  He 
saw  at  a  glance  the  purport  of  the  petition,  ran  his  eye  over  the 
seals,  and  at  once  with  his  own  *•  no  objection,"  sealed  it  and 
handed  it  back,  saying  that  we  had  only  one  more  stage  in  the 
matter.  "  Hand  it  to  the  Bash  Katib  of  the  Political  Council. 
The  council  meets  to-morrow,  and  after  it  is  read  and  approved, 
the  Waly  will  affix  his  seal  and  order  it  to  be  mailed  to  Constan- 
tinople."    We  did  as  we  were  bid. 

In  the  course  of  the  fortnight  it  was  mailed.  We  got  the 
official  number  of  the  "  Mazbata,"  or  decision  of  the  council,  and 
sent  it  to  our  agent  in  Constantinople  to  follow  it  up.  In  eight 
months  the  irade  came,  authorizing  us  to  print  a  literary,  re- 
ligious, and  scientific  paper,  but  not  to  interfere  with  politics  or 
religion.  We  had  asked  a  permit  for  a  general  news  paper.  For 
some  occult  reason  this  was  omitted  in  the  permit,  and  we  have 
apprehended,  from  that  time  to  this,  in  trying  to  make  up  a  re- 
ligious paper  without  interfering  with  religion,  that  we  should  be 
suppressed  for  sheer  imbecility. 

The  empire  is  now  full  of  newspapers.  Few  of  them  make 
both  ends  meet.     No  public  questions  can  be  discussed  and  the 


Daniel  Coit  Oilman's  Gift  553 

public  soon  weary  of  endless  accounts  of  the  visits  of  European 
kings,  and  miscellanies  from  Tid  Bits, 

The  Mohammedan  papers  are  allowed  full  swing  in  religious 
matters,  but  no  Christian  paper  is  suffered  to  reply.  The  govern- 
ment is  constituted  on  a  theocratic  basis,  and  Islam  being  the 
religion  of  the  state,  including  the  public  service,  the  army,  and 
the  navy,  the  Christian  sects  merely  exist  by  sufferance. 

This  confining  of  all  official  promotion  to  one  sect  makes  the 
empire  a  mere  sectarian  machine,  and  any  attempt  to  conform  to 
modern  civilization  must  fail,  until  this  wretched,  narrow  bigotry 
is  set  aside,  and  the  army  and  navy  and  civil  offices  thrown  open 
to  the  worthy  of  all  sects. 

The  jubilee  of  Dr.  Van  Dyck  which  occurred  April  2d  has  been 
fully  described  in  the  account  of  his  life  on  a  previous  page. 

In  April,  1890,  my  old  Yale  College  friend,  President  Daniel 
C.  Oilman  of  Johns  Hopkins  University,  called  to  see  us  and 
the  mission  work.  He  was  much  interested  in  the  press,  the  old 
historic  cemetery,  and  the  girls'  school  building.  When  we 
were  looking  at  the  upper  room  in  which  the  Bible  was  translated 
into  Arabic,  he  asked,  "  Why  not  have  a  memorial  tablet  in 
this  room  ? "  I  told  him  the  only  reason  was  the  want  of 
money  to  erect  one.  He  immediately  said,  "  Eli  Smith  was  a 
Yale  man,  and  I  am  a  Yale  man  and  so  are  you,  and  I  will  gladly 
pay  the  cost  of  such  a  tablet  to  be  put  up  in  Arabic  and  English." 
And  it  was  set  up. 

The  brightest  event  in  the  year  1890,  if  not  in  my  whole  mis- 
sionary life,  was  the  conversion  to  Christianity  of  a  young  Mo- 
hammedan effendi,  Kamil  el  Aietany.  He  carne  of  his  own 
accord  on  February  loth,  inquiring  as  to  the  nature  of  the 
Christian  faith.  He  was  a  youth  of  twenty,  with  an  unusually 
attractive  face  and  a  courteous,  winning  manner.  He  had  met  a 
Maronite  priest  and  a  Jesuit  father  but  got  no  satisfaction  from 
either  of  them,  and  came  to  Dr.  Van  Dyck  who  sent  him  to  me. 


554  Three  Years  of  Progress 

His  whole  history,  his  profound  spiritual  experience,  his  delight 
in  the  Scriptures,  his  loyal  and  enthusiastic  love  for  Jesus  Christ 
as  his  Saviour,  his  zeal  and  fearlessness  in  preaching  the  Gospel, 
his  blameless  life  and  delight  in  prayer,  his  wise  and  winning 
way  of  dealing  with  both  Mohammedans  and  Oriental  Christians 
his  filial  devotion  to  his  father  and  his  remarkable  correspond- 
ence with  him,  and  his  fidelity  to  Christ  even  to  death,  make 
his  life  one  of  profound  interest,  as  showing  what  the  grace  of 
God  can  effect  in  the  mind  and  character  of  a  Mohammedan 
youth  trained  for  seven  years  in  a  Mohammedan  school. 
On  April  lo,  1904,  Sir  Wm.  Muir  wrote  as  follows : 

Dean  Park  House,  Edinburgh. 
Dear  Dr.  Jessup  : 

I  have  been  for  some  time  deeply  engrossed  in  your  "Life  of 
Kami],"  a  book  that  should  be  known  over  all  our  possessions, 
especially  those  in  Europe  and  the  East.  Would  it  not  be  well  to  have 
it  reprinted  and  circulated  again?  /.  e.,  the  book  itself  without  the  ap- 
pendix. Please  think  how  this  can  be  done.  I  should  be  glad  to  do 
anything  for  the  purpose.  The  wider  it  can  be  known  the  better. 
What  do  you  say  ? 

After  the  Bible,  the  life  of  this  saved  disciple  is  one  of  the  best  things 
we  can  circulate,  especially  among  the  Moslems.  Will  you  think  over 
this  and  let  me  know  what  is  best  to  be  done  ? 

Ever  yours  truly, 

W.  Muir. 

That  new  edition  has  not  yet  been  printed,  although  the  pub- 
lishers gave  their  cordial  permission  to  Sir  William  to  reprint  if 
he  desired.  His  death  not  long  after  interrupted  the  correspond- 
ence. 

As  I  have  already  published  his  life,  there  is  no  need  of  enter- 
ing into  details  with  regard  to  his  character  and  work.  He 
studied  in  the  boys'  boarding-school  of  the  Rev.  O.  J.  Hardin  in 
Suk  el  Gharb,  where  he  met  a  young  Bedawy  Arab  convert  from 
the  Aneyzy  tribe,  Jedaan,  and  in  the  summer  of  1890,  these  two 
zealous  young  disciples  spent  two  months  of  the  vacation  in  the 


Kamil- — Apostle  to  the  Moslems  ^^^ 

Bedawin  camps  in  the  region  of  Hums  and  Hamath.  Kamil 
said  on  his  return  that  Jedaan  had  the  advantage  of  him  in 
knowing  the  pure  Bedawi  pronunciation  and  idioms,  and 
Jedaan  said  at  times  he  felt  very  timid  lest  the  Arabs  injure  them 
for  speaking  of  Christ,  but  that  Kamil  was  bold  as  a  lion. 

In  the  latter  part  of  September  they  returned  and  gave  a  full 
account  of  their  journey.  They  had  been  in  every  camp  for 
miles  east,  west,  north,  and  south  of  Hamath,  and  had  read  the 
Scriptures  to  hundreds  of  Arabs,  sowing  good  seed  that  may  yet 
spring  up  to  the  glory  of  God.  Kamil  brought  as  a  present  to 
my  family  a  beautiful  live  bird,  a  rail,  or  blue  heron,  which  he 
got  in  the  Bookaa  near  Baalbec.  He  said  he  brought  it  as  a 
thank-offering,  because  he  had  been  permitted  to  accomplish  his 
journey  in  safety. 

After  completing  their  Bedawin  labours  they  came  into  the 
city  of  Hums  one  Saturday  to  spend  the  Sabbath.  Taking  a 
room  in  a  khan  in  the  quarter  of  the  Greek  weavers,  they  called 
on  the  Protestant  pastor.  The  news  soon  spread  through  the 
city  that  a  young  Beirut  Mohammedan  who  had  become  a 
Christian  was  in  the  khan.  Towards  evening  five  young  Syrian 
weavers  of  the  Greek  sect  called  upon  them  in  the  khan,  curious 
to  see  a  Moslem  convert  to  Christianity.  After  the  usual  polite 
salutations  they  began  to  ply  Kamil  with  questions  as  to  his 
name,  and  whether  it  was  actually  true  that  he  had  become  a 
Christian.  He  said,  "  Certainly."  They  asked,  "  How  did  it 
come  about  ?  "  "  By  reading  God's  Word  and  by  prayer,"  he  re- 
plied. "  Are  you  a  member  of  the  Orthodox  Apostolic'^Greek 
Church  ?  "  they  then  asked.  "  I  don't  find  the  name  of  any  such 
church  in  the  Bible,"  said  he.  They  then  began  with  great  zeal 
to  try  to  convince  him  that  he  should  be  baptized  by  a  Greek 
priest  and  should  believe  in  prayers  to  the  saints  and  to  the 
Virgin,  and  in  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  Kamil  took 
out  his  Arabic  Testament  and  began  to  explain  to  them  the 
doctrine  of  free  salvation  and  of  justification  by  faith,  with  the 
most  tender  earnestness.  Then  standing  up  he  offered  prayer 
for  them  all,  and  when  he  had  finished,  they  were  all  in  tears. 


^^b  Three  Years  of  Progress 

They  thanked  him  and  went  away,  full  of  wonder  that  a  Moslem 
convert  should  have  to  show  them  the  way  of  salvation  through 
Christ  alone.  The  next  morning  they  all  went  to  the  Protestant 
church  and  proposed  to  be  enrolled  as  Protestants.  News  of 
this  was  carried  to  the  Greek  bishop,  Athanasius  Ahtullah. 
This  bishop  is  one  of  the  most  enlightened  of  the  Greek  clergy 
in  Syria.  When  a  lad,  he  attended  the  Protestant  common 
school  in  Suk,  and  he  has  opened  large  and  well-conducted 
schools  in  Hums,  with  i,200  pupils  ;  and  the  Bible  printed  at  the 
American  Press  is  used  as  a  text-book  in  them  all.  He  sent  and 
invited  Kamil  to  visit  him.  On  Kamil's  arrival  in  the  large 
reception  room,  the  bishop  sent  out  all  the  priests  and  servants 
and  brought  Kamil  to  the  raised  divan  at  the  upper  end  of  the 
room,  and  seating  him  at  his  right  hand,  saluted  him  most 
cordially.  On  learning  his  family  name,  the  bishop  said  :  "  I 
know  of  your  family  and  am  glad  you  have  become  a  Christian." 
Then  he  began  to  urge  him  to  enter  the  Orthodox  Greek 
Church,  and  used  the  usual  arguments  of  the  traditional  Oriental 
Christians.  Kamil  asked,  "  What  does  Your  Excellency  believe 
about  Christ?  Is  He  a  perfect  and  sufficient  Saviour?  "  The 
bishop  said,  "  Yes."  "  Do  you  believe,  as  St.  Paul  says,  that, 
'  being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ '?"  "  Yes,"  replied  the  bishop.  "  Then," 
said  Kamil,  "we  are  brethren  in  belief;  and  what  more  do  we 
want?"  But  the  bishop  urged  him  to  accept  trine  immersion  at 
the  hands  of  a  true  priest  of  the  Apostolic  Orthodox  Greek 
Church,  and  then  he  would  be  all  right.  Then  Kamil,  turning 
to  the  bishop,  said,  "  Your  Excellency,  supposing  that  you  and  I 
were  travelling  west  from  Hums  and  came  to  the  river  Orontes ; 
and  the  river  was  deep,  muddy,  swift,  and  broad  ;  and  there  was 
neither  bridge  nor  boat,  and  neither  of  us  could  swim.  Then  if 
I  should  say  to  you,  '  Bishop,  I  beg  you  to  take  me  across,' 
what  would  you  say?  You  would  say, '  Kamil,  I  cannot  take 
myself  across,  and  how  can  I  take  you  ? '  And  there  we  stood, 
helpless  and  despairing.  But  supposing  that  just  then  we 
should  see  a  huge  giant,  a  strong,  tall  man,  coming  towards  us, 


God  Has  Called  Me!  557 

and  he  should  take  you  by  the  arms  and  carry  you  across. 
Would  I  call  out,  '  Bishop,  come  and  take  me  across  '  ?  No  ;  I 
would  call  to  the  strong  man.  Bishop,  there  is  only  one  strong 
Man — the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Is  not  He  enough  ?  "  Turning  to 
Kamil,  the  bishop  asked,  "  My  dear  friend,  how  long  have  you 
been  a  Christian  ?  "  '•  Seven  months,"  was  the  reply.  "  Seven 
months  !  And  you  are  teaching  me  who  have  been  a  Christian 
in  name  from  infancy.  Kamil,  you  are  right.  If  you  will  stay 
here  and  teach  Turkish  in  my  school,  I  will  pay  you  a  higher 
salary  than  you  can  get  in  any  school  in  Syria."  "  Your  Ex- 
cellency," replied  Kamil,  "  I  thank  you  for  your  offer ;  but  I  do 
not  care  for  money  or  salary.  God  has  called  me  to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  the  Mohammedans,  and  I  must  complete  my  studies 
and  be  about  my  work." 

I  shall  never  forget  the  truly  eloquent  and  affecting  manner  in 
which  he  described  this  interview  with  the  Bishop  of  Hums.  It 
showed  how  completely  he  was  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  faith 
and  Christian  love,  and  how  his  exquisite  courtesy  and  sweetness 
of  disposition  disarmed  all  opposition.  Kamil  and  Jedaan  re- 
turned to  the  Suk  school  and  resumed  their  studies.  Kamil's 
religious  influence  continued  undiminished  and  he  took  part 
heartily  in  all  religious  meetings.  Mr.  Hardin  states  that  it  was 
refreshing  to  see  how  new  and  striking  were  his  views  and  ap- 
plications of  gospel  truth. 

In  October  he  wrote  to  me  of  his  welfare  and  stated  that  the 
Greek  priest  in  Suk  had  offered  to  teach  him  Greek  in  order  to 
help  him  understand  the  New  Testament,  but  his  studies  and  his 
teaching  left  him  no  time  for  taking  up  Greek.  Some  of  the 
monks  of  Deir  Shir,  a  papal  Greek  monastery  near  Suk,  made 
several  attempts  to  persuade  him  to  become  a  Romanist,  but  he 
finally  told  them  they  would  better  preach  to  the  Moslems  than 
attempt  to  pervert  a  Christian  believer  to  Romish  tradition  and 
superstition. 

Early  in  January  he  wrote  me  again  asking  for  certain  books, 
and  closed  by  saying,  "  We  have  been  reading  Acts  8  :  36-40, 
and  I  would  ask,  *  Who  shall  forbid  that  I  be  baptized  ? '  " 


558  Three  Years  of  Progress 

Up  to  this  time  he  had  been  on  probation,  and  it  was  thought 
better  to  give  him  time  to  take  the  step  deliberately.  But  now 
there  seemed  no  reason  for  further  delay.  He  was  rooted  and 
grounded  in  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  he  was  baptized  January 
15th,  rejoicing  thus  to  take  his  stand  for  Christ,  his  Saviour. 

Dr.  Ellinwood,  in  his  introduction  to  the  "  Life  of  Kamil,"  says, 
"  The  story  of  this  young  man  ca,nnot  fail  to  be  regarded  as  a  valu- 
able accession  to  the  missionary  literature  of  the  day.  First,  it 
proves  the  utter  falsity  of  the  oracular  assertion  so  often  made  by 
transient  travellers,  that  no  Moslem  is  ever  converted  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith.  We  have  never  known  clearer  evidence  of  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  connection  with  his 
truth.  The  transformation  in  Paul's  life  was  scarcely  clearer  or 
more  impressive. 

"  Second,  an  admirable  example  is  afforded  to  missionaries  in 
heathen  and  Moslem  lands,  and  indeed  to  preachers  and  evangel- 
ists at  home  as  well,  of  that  alert  and  ever  wise  tact  which  finds 
*  the  line  of  least  resistance '  to  the  heart  of  one's  adversary. 
There  are  those  who  stoutly  deny  the  necessity  of  learning  any- 
thing whatever  concerning  the  non-Christian  religions,  who  deem 
it  utter  folly  to  study  the  Koran,  even  though  one  labours  in  Syria 
or  Persia,  and  equally  senseless  to  disturb  the  musty  tomes  of 
Buddhist  or  Hindu  lore  if  one's  field  is  India;  all  that  is  needed  is 
the  story  of  the  Cross.  This  young  Syrian  did  not  thus  believe. 
If  he  had  been  a  student  of  the  Koran  before,  there  was  tenfold 
necessity  now,  for  it  was  upon  the  teachings  of  the  Koran  and 
the  entire  cult  of  Islam  that  he  purposed  to  move  with  an  untir- 
ing and  fearless  conquest.  He  would  have  to  deal  with  men  of 
intelligence  and  intellectual  training,  and  if  he  would  show  the 
superiority  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  he  must  know  how  to  make 
an  intelligent  comparison.  If  he  would  inculcate  the  supreme 
truth,  he  must  generously  recognize  any  particles  of  truth  already 
possessed.  Paul  on  Mars  Hill  before  a  heathen  audience  of 
Greeks,  Paul  before  Agrippa,  a  ruler  versed  in  the  doctrines  of 
the  Jews,  was  not  more  wise  and  tactful  than  Kamil. 

"  Third,  if  there  were  no  other  motive  for  studying  this  little 


KAMIL  AIETANY 


Kamil's  Martyrdom  559 

sketch  by  Dr.  Jessup,  it  is  thrice  valuable  as  a  personal  means  of 
grace.  Such  a  life  of  clear  faith  and  of  untiring  devotion  is 
tonic,  and  must  be  to  every  truly  Christian  heart. 

"  Fourth,  the  life  of  Kamil  affords  another  proof  that  the 
Gospel  has  a  universal  application  to  the  hearts  of  men,  that  it  is 
indeed  the  wisdom  of  God  and  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation, 
•  to  the  Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  Gentile.'  " 

In  the  fall  of  1890,  after  his  baptism,  he  joined  Rev.  Messrs. 
Cantine  and  Zwemer  at  Aden,  Arabia,  where  he  preached  and 
sold  Arabic  Scriptures  to  the  Arabs,  then  accompanied  them 
December,  1 891,  to  EI  Busrah  at  the  head  of  the  Persian  Gulf  in 
Turkish  territory,  where,  after  indefatigable  labours  in  preaching 
and  witnessing  for  Christ,  he  died  suddenly  in  suspicious  circum- 
stances, June  24,  1892,  and  the  Turkish  soldiers  buried  him  so 
suddenly  and  so  secretly  that  his  grave  could  not  be  found,  nor  a 
post  mortem  examination  be  secured.  * 

But  it  mattered  not  to  him  who  buried  him  or  where  he  was 
buried.  He  was  safe  beyond  the  reach  of  persecution  and  harm. 
I  have  rarely  met  a  more  pure  and  thoroughly  sincere  character. 
His  life  has  proved  that  the  purest  and  most  unsullied  flowers  of 
grace  in  character  may  grow  even  in  the  atmosphere  of  unchris- 
tian social  life.  His  intellectual  difficulties  about  the  Trinity 
vanished  when  he  felt  the  need  of  a  divine  Saviour.  He  seemed 
taught  by  the  Spirit  of  God  from  the  first. 

Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell's  Visit  to  Syria 
On  the  24th  of  March,  1890,  we  were  visited  by  one  of  the 
purest,  noblest  men  of  the  modern  church.  Rev.  Arthur  Mitchell, 
secretary  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  He 
came  with  his  wife,  a  sister  of  Dr.  Post  of  Beirut,  after  a  round- 
the-world  visit  to  the  missions  in  Japan,  China,  Siam,  and  India. 
Having  had  a  sunstroke  in  the  Indian  seas,  he  reached  Cairo 
quite  prostrated,  and  on  reaching  Beirut,  Dr.  Post  insisted  on  his 
staying  in  bed  and  seeing  no  one.  When  restored,  he  took  a 
three  weeks'  horseback  journey,  and  then  was  able  to  meet  the 
missionaries  assembled  in  Beirut  and  to  discuss  important  ques- 


560  Three  Years  of  Progress 

tions.  His  irenic  disposition,  keen  insight  into  affairs,  and  per- 
suasive eloquence,  succeeded  in  completely  obliterating  certain 
chronic  misunderstandings  between  some  of  the  foreign  residents ; 
and  in  convincing  the  native  church  that  it  was  their  duty  and 
privilege  to  call  at  once  a  native  pastor,  and  in  two  months  Rev. 
Yusef  Bedr  was  unanimously  called  to  the  pastorate,  and  from 
that  day  to  this  the  church  has  been  served  by  native  pastors. 

The  visits  of  Secretaries  Dr.  Mitchell  in  1890  and  Dr.  Brown 
in  1902  were  a  great  blessing  to  the  missionaries  personally  and 
to  the  work  as  a  whole.  Dr.  Mitchell  died  in  the  summer  of 
1893,  lamented  by  the  Church  at  home  and  abroad.  I  had  known 
him  for  fifty  years,  and  none  could  know  him  without  loving  him. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  stand  in"  his  pulpit  in  Morristown, 
Chicago,  and  Cleveland.  He  was  always  a  missionary  in  spirit. 
The  monthly  missionary  meetings  in  his  lecture-room,  illustrated 
by  beautiful  maps  drawn  and  coloured  by  his  children,  were  the 
most  attractive  meetings  of  the  month.  I  remember  well  the  re- 
mark of  Dr.  EUinwood  in  1878  when  I  was  about  setting  out  on 
my  Western  campaign  to  the  churches  and  synods,"  You  will  find 
two  Arthurs  in  the  West,  both  of  them  in  thorough  sympathy 
with  foreign  missions,  Arthur  Mitchell  of  Chicago,  and  Arthur 
Pierson  of  Detroit,"  and  so  I  found  it.  Arthur  Mitchell  died  in 
the  missionary  harness  and  Arthur  Pierson  is  still  doing  noble 
.   service  for  world-wide  missions. 

In  July,  1890,  I  found  in  the  Arabic  journal  Beirut  the  follow- 
ing account  of  a  truly  Oriental  romance  : 

About  twenty-three  years  ago,  a  Jew  named  Oslan  came  from 
Bagdad  to  Damascus,  leaving  his  wife  and  children  in  Bagdad. 
Soon  after,  his  wife  gave  birth  to  a  son  and  named  him  Ezekiel. 
The  husband  decided  to  remain  in  Damascus,  and  after  five  years 
sent  for  his  wife  to  bring  the  children  to  him. 

So  in  due  time  she  set  out  with  the  caravan  of  the  Arab  tribe 
of  Akeil,  taking  the  road  through  the  Djoul  wilderness.  On  their 
way  they  fell  in  with  the  tribe  of  Beni  Sukhr,  and  encamped  near 
them,  pitching  their  tents  for  the  night. 


A  Desert  Romance  561 

About  nightfall  a  terrific  cyclone  burst  upon  the  camp.  Tents 
were  torn  from  their  fastenings,  shrubs  and  trees  uprooted,  the 
sand  filled  the  air,  and  the  wind  scattered  the  baggage  and  be- 
longings of  the  travellers,  and  among  the  missing  property  was 
little  Ezekiel,  the  son  of  Semha.  She  and  the  Arabs  searched  for 
three  days  and  found  no  trace  of  him  and  then  she  resumed  her 
journey  to  Damascus,  sad  and  disconsolate,  with  the  Akeil  tribe 
who  struck  their  tents  and  accompanied  her. 

On  reaching  Damascus,  she  told  her  husband  of  the  sad 
calamity  which  had  befallen  Ezekiel,  and  together  they  mourned 
him  as  dead. 

Now  it  happened  that  a  few  days  after  the  sand-storm,  a 
Bedawy  woman  named  Hamdeh,  of  the  tribe  of  Beni  Sukhr,  when 
walking  outside  the  camp,  heard  a  child's  cry,  and  found  little 
Ezekiel  nearly  buried  in  the  sand.  She  took  him  home  to  the 
tent  of  her  husband,  the  Emir  Mohammed  Kasim,  cared  for  him, 
named  him  Nejeeb  Paris,  and  brought  him  up  as  her  son,  know- 
ing nothing  of  his  history  or  parentage.  When  Nejeeb  reached 
the  age  of  sixteen,  a  Mohammedan  Hajjam  (a  cupper  and  cir- 
cumciser)  visited  the  camp.  The  Bedawyoboys  were  assembled 
for  circumcision  and  he  was  among  them.  When  it  came  his 
turn,  the  Hajjam  exclaimed,  "  He  is  already  circumcised  after  the 
manner  of  the  Jews."  Hamdeh  then  remembered  that  at  the  time 
when  Nejeeb  was  found,  a  caravan  passed  them  in  which  were 
Jewish  women  and  children.  She  then  told  her  husband  Moham- 
med and  Nejeeb  of  this  fact.  The  news  flew  throughout  the 
tribe  and  the  Bedawin  began  to  laugh  at  him  and  call  him  Bedawy 
Jew  and  ridicule  him.  He  bore  their  insults,  however,  with 
patience  until  he  had  reached  the  age  of  twenty-three.  In  May, 
1890,  he  left  the  tribe  of  Beni  Sukhr  at  Khaibar  near  El  Medina 
in  Arabia  and  came  northward  to  Mezeirib,  east  of  the  Sea  of 
Galilee,  on  a  swift  dromedary  with  a  single  companion,  making 
the  thirty-two  days' journey  in  sixteen  days. 

At  Mezeirib  he  was  not  long  in  finding  out  the  highway  to 
Damascus,  and  he  entered  that  city  clad  in  his  Bedawy  attire, 
carrying  his  mizmar,  shepherd's  pipe,  with  which  he  had  been 


562  Three  Years  of  Progress 

wont  to  awaken  weird  minor  melodies  in  the  Arabian  desert. 
He  went  at  once  to  the  Jewish  quarter  and  made  himself  known. 
The  rabbi  made  a  ceremonial  examination  and  found  that  he  was 
circumcised  according  to  the  Jewish  rite.  The  Jewish  community 
of  Damascus  was  in  great  excitement,  and  diligent  inquiry  was 
made.  At  length  a  Jewess  recalled  that  eighteen  years  before, 
Semha,  the  wife  of  Oslan,  came  with  her  children  from  Bagdad 
and  lost  a  son  in  the  camp  of  the  Beni  Sukhr,  Then  began 
a  search  for  Oslan  and  his  wife  and  they  were  traced  to 
Beirut. 

Letters  were  then  written  to  the  chief  hakkam  or  rabbi  of 
Beirut,  asking  him,  in  case  he  found  them,  to  obtain  from  them 
some  sign  by  which  they  could  identify  the  son  and  then  send 
them  on  to  Damascus. 

They  went  at  once  without  delay  to  Damascus,  and  found  their 
son  a  wild  Bedawy,  with  all  the  characteristics  of  an  Arab  of  the 
desert.  The  mother  was  then  asked  if  she  knew  of  any  mark  on 
his  body  by  which  she  could  identify  Nejeeb  Paris,  the  Arab,  as 
her  son  Ezekiel.  She  said  that  when  an  infant  she  cauterized  his 
right  forearm,  and  that  he  was  once  burned  on  his  left  thigh. 
On  examination,  both  of  these  marks  were  found  to  be  exactly  as 
she  said.  A  "  kaief  "  (physiognomist)  was  then  summoned,  who 
declared  his  features  to  resemble  those  of  Semha,  the  mother,  and 
his  eyes  to  be  like  those  of  his  father,  Oslan. 

The  youth  was  then  delivered  to  his  parents  who  embraced 
and  kissed  him,  greeting  him  with  warm  welcome.  Poor  Ezekiel 
was  stupefied  with  astonishment.  He  could  not  understand  their 
expressions,  nor  could  they  understand  his  Bedawy  dialect,  but 
he  was  at  length  satisfied  that  he  was  their  long-lost  boy. 

After  a  stay  of  three  days  in  Damascus,  they  brought  him  over 
to  Beirut.  His  relatives  and  fellow  Israelites  received  him  with 
great  joy  and  affection.  His  long  Bedawy  locks  were  cut  off,  his 
Arab  Abaieh  robe  was  removed,  and  new  Israelitish  garments 
were  put  on  him.  He  looked  at  himself  with  amazement  and 
walked  about  the  house  as  one  in  a  dream.  When  they  called 
him  by  his  name, "  Hazkiyel  "  (Ezekiel),  he  would  not  answer,  but 


Found  After  Many  Years  563 

replied, "  What  do  you  mean  by'  Hazkiyel '  ?  I  am  Nejeeb  Paris, 
the  horseman  of  Abjar." 

On  Monday  evening,  June  30th,  a  great  feast  was  made  by  his 
parents.  Men  singers  and  women  singers,  with  players  on 
instruments,  were  hired,  and  guests  were  invited,  both  men  and 
women,  and  there  was  eating  and  drinking,  and  making  merry. 
And  when  the  music  began  and  the  instruments  sounded,  Ezekiel's 
joy  knew  no  bounds,  and  seizing  his  mizmar,  he  leaped  into  the 
middle  of  the  room,  dancing  and  shouting  and  playing  his 
shepherd's  pipe  in  Bedawy  style.  In  a  moment  all  the  instru- 
ments were  silent,  the  men  and  women  singers  paused,  Ezekiel 
was  left  the  only  performer,  and  he  shouted,  "  Rise  up,  brethren 
let  us  dance  together." 

The  above  I  have  translated  literally  from  the  Arabic  paper 
Beirut,  of  July  2d. 

July  7th — To-day  Ezekiel  called  on  me  with  his  mother  at  the 
American  Press.  He  repeated  substantially  the  statements  nar- 
rated above.  He  says  that  his  Bedawy  father,  the  Emir  Moham- 
med, is  at  the  head  of  the  Beni  Sukhr,  who  occupy  the  Arabian 
wilderness  from  Mecca  and  El  Medina  to  the  north  and  north- 
east, carrying  their  raids  as  far  as  the  vicinity  of  Bagdad,  and  it 
was  on  one  of  these  raids  that  they  discovered  him  almost  dead 
in  the  sand. 

"  The  Emir  Mohammed,"  said  Ezekiel,  "  has  six  sons,  but 
none  of  them  are  noted  for  horsemanship  and  '  Feroosiyeh ' 
with  the  spear,  but  I  have  always  been  a  faris,  and  had  command 
of  a  hundred  spearmen."  He  said  that  he  had  often  been  chal- 
lenged to  the  "  jereed  "  contest  by  the  best  spearmen  in  Arabia 
(the  jereed  is  a  spear  shaft  with  blunt  ends  used  only  for  exercise 
and  drill)  and  was  never  yet  hit  by  the  jereed.  I  asked  him  how 
he  escaped.  He  said,  "  When  the  jereed  strikes  where  I  was 
thought  to  be,  I  am  found  under  the  horse's  belly,  riding  at  full 
speed." 

I  asked  his  mother  if  he  knew  anything  about  religion  and 
she  said  nothing.  I  then  asked  him  where  good  men  go  when 
they  die.     "  To  Jenneh  "  (Paradise).     "  And  where  do  the  wickec^ 


564  Three  Years  of  Progress 

go  ?  "  "  To  Jehennam  "  (Hell).  "  Do  all  the  Bedawin  Arabs 
believe  this  ?  "  "  Yes."  "  Do  they  hve  up  to  it  ?  "  "  Live  up  to 
it  ?  A  man's  life  with  them  is  of  no  more  account  than  the  life  of 
a  beast."  "  Do  the  Bedawin  sheikhs  and  emirs  pray  ?  "  He  re- 
plied by  extending  both  hands  towards  me,  palms  down,  and  the 
fingers  spreading  apart  and  saying,  *'  Sir,  are  all  my  fingers  of 
the  same  length  ?  "  i.  ^.,  are  all  men  alike  ?  I  then  asked,  "  Do 
you  know  the  Mohammedan  prayers  ?  "  "  No,  I  have  never 
learned  them."  "  Have  you  ever  met  any  Christians  ?  "  "  Yes, 
at  Khaibar  there  are  Christians  and  I  taught  a  Christian  named 
Habib  for  five  months  horsemanship  and  spear  practice,  and  he 
taught  me  to  pray,  '  Abana  illeze  fis  semawat '  "  (Our  Father 
which  art  in  heaven,  hallowed  be  Thy  name,  etc.),  and  Ezekiel 
repeated  the  whole  prayer  in  Arabic  with  perfect  correctness.  I 
was  astonished  at  hearing  the  Lord's  prayer  from  this  son  of 
the  desert,  but  remembered  that  there  are  scattered  through  that 
region  small  tribes  of  Oriental  Christians  of  the  Greek  Church, 
who,  with  all  their  superstition  and  ignorance,  know  the  funda- 
mental truths  of  the  Christian  faith.  It  is  certainly  to  the  credit 
of  this  man  Habib,  living  away  down  at  Khaibar,  near  the  tomb  of 
Mohammed,  that  he  should  teach  the  Lord's  prayer  to  the  son  of 
the  emir  of  the  Beni  Sukhr.  I  asked  Ezekiel  why  he  came  thus 
secretly  and  alone.  He  said  that  after  he  learned  that  he  was  of 
Jewish  birth  he  wondered  whether  his  real  parents  and  others  of 
his  kindred  were  living,  and  about  the  first  of  May,  when  in 
Khaibar,  he  decided  to  come  on  alone  to  Damascus,  and,  if  he 
found  no  trace  of  any  living  relative,  he  would  return  to  his 
tribe.  So  he  hired  a  guide  and  they  two  set  out  on  dromedaries 
and  travelled  the  six  hundred  miles  between  Khaibar  and 
Damascus  in  sixteen  days,  the  ordinary  time  for  caravans  being 
thirty-two  days.  He  said  that  had  he  known  that  his  father  and 
mother  were  living  he  would  not  have  come  empty  handed  as  he 
did. 

His  mother  said  she  could  not  tell  what  her  son  would  do,  that 
it  was  hard  for  him  to  remain  shut  up  in  a  house,  and  he  wants 
to  be  out  in  the  open  air  all  the  time.     He  knows  no  trade  or 


Music  in  Syria  565 

business  such  as  is  needed  to  earn  his  Hving  and  is  perplexed  by 
his  new  environment.  I  asked  him  if  he  would  like  to  enter  a 
school  and  learn  to  read  and  write.  He  seemed  to  like  the  sug- 
gestion and  said  he  liked  the  Christians  and  would  rather  be  a 
Christian  than  a  Jew.  When  I  told  him  of  Jedaan,  the  Aneyzy 
Arab,  in  our  school  at  Suk,  he  seemed  much  interested  and  it 
may  be  that  he  will  consent  to  learn  at  least  enough  to  enable 
him  to  read  the  Bible  and  write.  I  was  struck  with  the  differ- 
ence between  him  and  his  mother.  She  had  the  placid,  round, 
open  face  so  common  among  Syrian  Jewesses,  with  large  staring 
eyes.  His  brow  was  low,  his  eyes  deeply  sunken  and  small,  but 
keen  and  penetrating  as  an  eagle's.  He  seemed  to  be  looking  at 
something  two  miles  off.  His  figure  was  lithe  and  thin,  and  he 
showed  me  the  callous,  almost  bony,  marks  across  the  palm, 
thumb,  and  fingers  of  his  right  hand,  from  long  rubbing  of  the 
spear  shaft.  Three  days  ago  he  was  challenged  by  half  a  dozen 
horsemen  of  Beirut  to  a  jereed  race  at  the  pines,  and  he  says  he 
left  them  far  behind. 

This  is  a  veritable  romance  of  real  life.  If  Ezekiel  is  not  up- 
set by  so  much  lionizing,  he  may  yet  follow  Jedaan's  footsteps 
and  become  an  apostle  to  the  desert  tribes  of  the  great  wilder- 
ness of  Arabia. 

We  sent  him  to  Mr.  Hardin's  school  at  Suk  but  he  could  not 
endure  the  confinement  and  went  away,  [In  January,  1905,  his 
father  stated  that  he  was  settled  and  at  work  in  one  of  the 
Jewish  industrial  colonies  near  Safed.] 

During  this  year  I  baptized  two  intelligent  Moslems  in  Beirut, 
both  of  whom  had  to  leave  the  country.  I  regret  to  say  that 
one  of  them  was  afterwards  tempted  by  high  ofifice  and  large 
salary  to  deny  his  Lord  and  Master.  He  continues  outwardly 
friendly,  but  must  have  some  fierce  struggles  with  an  outraged 
conscience. 

Musical  Talent  Among  the  Syrians 
Asiatic  music  differs  so  essentially  from  the  European  that 
foreigners  on  hearing  Syrian  airs  for  the  first  time  are  impressed 


566  Three  Years  of  Progress 

and  oppressed  with  the  sad  minor  melancholy  tone  of  the  Arabic 
music.  In  Arab  music  the  intervals  between  the  full  notes  are 
thirds,  so  that  C  sharp  and  D  flat  are  distinct  sounds.  Asiatics 
have  no  harmony.  All  their  music  is  simply  "  one  part " 
melody.  Even  in  Europe,  harmony  as  a  science  was  not  known 
in  the  early  Christian  centuries.  The  introduction  of  melodeons, 
pianos,  harmoniums,  and  organs  by  Americans  and  Europeans  in 
the  last  fifty  years,  and  the  regular  instruction  in  harmony  in 
the  schools,  have  developed  in  the  second  generation  of  educated 
Syrians  several  very  remarkable  cases  of  musical  genius  of  the 
European  style. 

Two  of  our  Protestant  young  men  have  distinguished  them- 
selves even  in  the  capitals  of  London  and  Paris.  The  first  was 
a  blind  youth  Ibrahim,  who  in  Mr.  Mott's  bhnd  school  showed 
musical  talent,  playing  several  instruments  and  singing  equally 
well  bass,  tenor,  and  soprano. 

In  the  summer  of  1890,  after  preliminary  correspondence  with 
Dr.  Campbell,  principal  of  the  Royal  Normal  Musical  College 
for  the  blind  in  Upper  Norwood,  London,  young  Ibrahim  set  out 
for  London.  At  Port  Said,  having  been  abandoned  by  his 
Syrian  fellow  travellers,  he  fell  in  with  a  godly  English  family  en 
route  for  London,  who  took  charge  of  him  until  he  entered  the 
college.  There,  by  industry,  fidelity,  and  faithful  study,  he  rose 
high  in  his  classes,  received  his  diploma,  and  is  now  supporting 
himself  comfortably  by  tuning  pianos. 

The  other  youth,  Wadia,  is  the  son  of  parents  both  of  them 
pupils  and  teachers,  and  both  fond  of  sacred  music.  I  have 
spoken  of  him  elsewhere. 

These  two  young  men,  with  native  genius  for  music  and 
brought  up  in  godly  families,  show  what  may  be  anticipated 
when  Christian  education  becomes  general  in  the  East. 

Not  only  in  music,  but  also  in  painting,  considerable  genius 
has  developed  in  the  second  generation  of  Protestant  youth,  some 
of  whom  have  done  excellent  work  in  portrait  painting,  among 
them  Mr.  Selim  Shibley  Haddad  of  Cairo,  Raieef  Shidoody  of 
Beirut,  Khahl  M.  Saleeby  of  Beirut,  and  Manuel  Sabunjy  of  Cairo. 


The  Bakurah  567 

Mr.  Haddad  painted  the  beautiful  portrait  of  Miss  Everett 
which  was  given  to  the  Beirut  Girls'  School  by  the  alumnae  in 
Egypt. 

In  September,  1890,  I  sent  to  Sir  William  Muir  the  manu- 
script of  the  "  Bakurah,"  a  book  which  has  no  superior  as  an 
exhibition  of  the  Christian  argument  as  addressed  to  Moslems. 
Sir  William  in  his  preface  to  the  English  abstract  of  the  book 
published  by  the  Religious  Tract  Society  of  London  in  1893, 
says,  "  It  is  a  work  in  many  respects  the  most  remarkable  of  its 
kind  which  has  appeared  in  the  present  day.  It  may  take  the 
highest  rank  in  apologetic  literature,  being  beyond  question  one 
of  the  most  powerful  treatises  on  the  claims  of  Christianity  that 
has  ever  been  addressed  to  the  Mohammedan  world." 

It  is  an  historical  romance  located  in  Damascus,  and  is  full 
of  thrilling  incidents  and  powerful  reasoning.  The  book  was 
published  in  Arabic  first  in  Leipsic,  the  proofs  being  sent  to  Dr. 
Van  Dyck  for  correction,  and  I  also  aiding  in  comparing  it  with 
the  original  manuscript.  It  was  then  sent  to  Egypt  and  placed 
on  sale  and  some  copies  reached  Syria.  The  edition  being  soon 
exhausted,  it  was  reprinted  by  the  missionaries  in  Egypt  in  a 
cheap  form  and  it  has  been  translated  into  Persian  and  into  some 
of  the  languages  of  India.  A  young  Moslem  effendi  recently 
informed  me  that  he  was  led  to  accept  Christ  as  his  Saviour  by 
reading  a  copy  in  the  Azhar  University  mosque  in  Cairo. 

The  author's  name  does  not  appear,  but  I  am  thankful  to  say 
that  he  is  one  of  the  most  refined  and  scholarly  Christian 
preachers  in  the  East,  is  well  versed  in  Mohammedan  literature, 
and  has  large  acquaintance  with  their  learned  men.  His  liter- 
ary taste  and  ability  are  only  surpassed  by  the  personal  loveli- 
ness of  a  character,  amiable,  gentle,  and  fully  consecrated  to  the 
service  of  Jesus  Christ.  Another  book  by  the  same  author, 
"  Minar  ul  Hoc,"  "  The  Beacon  of  Truth,"  has  also  been  edited 
and  printed  in  Arabic  and  English  through  the  efficient  aid  of 
Sir  William  Muir  of  blessed  memory. 

It  is   a  somewhat  striking  coincidence  that   on  the  13th    of 


568  Three  Years  of  Progress 

February,  1865,  a  Damascus  Mohammedan  lay  imprisoned  in 
Beirut  for  becoming  a  Christian,  and  the  very  next  day,  February 
14th,  the  author  of  the  "  Bakurah  "  took  refuge  in  my  house  at 
midnight  from  the  persecution  of  his  near  relatives,  members 
of  one  of  the  Oriental  churches.  It  was  a  dark  stormy  night 
and  they  turned  him  out  into  the  storm  to  find  shelter  where  he 
could. 

The  facts  concerning  the  persecution  of  the  Moslem  convert 
and  the  rumour  that  two  more  had  been  hung  in  the  Great  Mosque 
at  Damascus  for  becoming  Christians,  coming  to  his  knowledge 
just  at  this  time  when  he  was  suffering  the  loss  of  all  things  for 
Christ's  sake,  made  a  deep  impression  on  his  mind. 

His  deep  religious  experience,  afterwards  so  beautifully  de- 
veloped in  his  life  and  teaching,  made  it  possible  for  him  to 
write  a  book  of  spiritual  power  for  the  unspiritual  Moslems.  I 
am  sure  that  no  member  of  the  Greek  Orthodox  Church  or  the 
Romish  Church,  believing  in  Mariolatry  and  ikon  worship  and 
priestly  absolution  could  possibly  write  such  a  book  as  the 
".Bakurah,"  which  is  Scriptural  and  evangelical  from  beginning  to 
end.  Sir  William  Muir  speaks  of  this  point  very  tersely  and 
earnestly  in  his  introduction  to  the  English  edition. 

I  wrote  to  Sir  William  Muir,  August  11,  1891  : 

"  The  Bishop  Blyth  crusade  against  the  Church  Missionary 
Society  missionaries  is  indeed  pitiable.  Archdeacon  Denison 
carries  the  matter  to  a  logical  conclusion.  He  only  needs  to  in- 
sist that  Bishop  Blyth  ask  for  rebaptism  and  reordination  at  the 
hands  of  the  Greek  patriarch  and  then  his  position  will  be  con- 
sistent. 

"  Your  own  remarks  in  the  Record  are  most  pertinent.  Those 
who  talk  about  the  Greek  clergy  labouring  for  the  salvation  of 
the  Moslems  do  not  know  what  they  are  talking  about.  I 
doubt  whether  there  are  a  dozen  Greek  priests  in  Syria  and 
Palestine  who  can  read  correctly  a  chapter  in  the  Koran,  or  carry 
on  an  argument  with  a  Moslem  sheikh.  Or  if  they  could  they 
would  flout  at  the  idea  of  preaching  to  the  vile  Moslems.  Or  if 
they  felt  it  a  duty,  they  are  so  afraid  of  the  Moslems  that  they 


William  Jessup's  Arrival  in  Syria  569 

would  not  dare  to  speak  to  them  of  embracing  Christianity. 
And  if  they  did  speak,  the  Moslems  would  reply  by  charging 
them  with  idolatry  and  creature  worship." 

On  November  29,  1890,  our  hearts  were  gladdened  by  the 
arrival  of  my  eldest  son,  Rev,  William  Jessup,  and  his  bride,  as  a 
reinforcement  to  the  mission.  He  was  the  child  of  many 
prayers,  and  entered  upon  his  work  fully  consecrated,  not  only 
by  his  parents,  but  by  his  own  free  surrender  of  all  to  Christ. 

Left  motherless  in  infancy  in  1864,  he  was  brought  up  by  lov- 
ing grandparents  in  Branchport,  N.  Y.,  and  became  strong  and 
vigorous.  In  1878  I  was  in  America  and  sent  for  him  to  come 
to  my  mother's  home  in  Montrose.  I  had  last  seen  him  a  lad  of 
six  years,  and  when  I  went  to  the  railroad  station  to  meet  him,  I 
was  thinking  of  the  little  child  of  ten  years  before.  The  train 
stopped.  Only  one  passenger  got  out,  a  tall,  broad-shouldered 
man  with  a  satchel.  I  kept  looking  for  my  boy — but  this  man 
walked  directly  up  to  me  with  a  smile  and  I  saw  that  it  was  in- 
deed my  boy,  the  face  the  same,  but  so  much  higher  from  the 
ground  !  It  was  enough  to  bring  both  smiles  and  tears  of  joy. 
Then  came  the  more  intimate  acquaintance,  his  meeting  his 
brothers  and  sisters,  the  arrangements  for  Albany  Academy  with 
his  brother  Henry,  their  graduation  at  Princeton,  and  his  course 
in  the  Princeton  Theological  Seminary  and  appointment  to  Syria. 

Eighteen  years  have  passed.  Four  lovely  olive  plants  are 
around  his  table,  and  he  has  plenty  of  sohd  work  in  itinerating 
over  a  field  ninety  by  forty  miles,  preaching  and  teaching  the 
everlasting  Gospel.  It  is  a  gratifying  fact  that  not  less  than 
twenty-two  of  the  children  of  American  missionaries  in  Syria 
have  entered  on  the  missionary  work. 

As  the  year  drew  near  its  close,  cholera  appeared  in  Hamath, 
Hums,  and  Aleppo  and  some  25,000  people  died.  Mr.  Wakim 
Messuah,  pastor  in  Hums,  had  provided  himself  with  cholera 
medicines,  and  went  fearlessly  among  the  people  day  by  day,  so 
that  during  the  prevalence  of  the  pestilence  not  a  Protestant  died. 


570  Three  Years  of  Progress 

The  experience  in  Hamath  and  some  of  the  villages  was  the  same, 
as  the  teachers  were  forewarned  and  so  forearmed.  But  after 
the  epidemic  subsided  and  all  apprehension  had  ceased,  the  wife 
and  daughter  of  the  Hums  pastor  were  suddenly  taken  one  night 
with  a  virulent  form  of  the  disease  and  both  died ! 

In  Tripoli,  through  the  goodness  of  God  and  the  wise  precau- 
tion of  Dr.  Harris,  the  girls'  boarding-school  stood  like  an  angel- 
guarded  fortress  in  the  midst  of  that  pestilence-stricken  city. 
All  water  was  boiled,  all  food  cooked,  and  no  outsider  allowed  to 
come  in  and  although  people  were  dying  all  around  and  the  death 
wails  filled  the  air,  not  a  person  in  that  building  had  the  cholera. 

The  people  asked,  "  Has  God  spread  a  tent  over  those  Protes- 
tants ?  " 

The  Moslems  naturally  suffered  most,  as  their  fatalistic  doc- 
trines lead  them  to  neglect  the  simplest  rules  of  sanitation  and 
health. 

I        This  year  was  an  important  one  in  the  Tripoli  field.     Talcott 
(    Hall,  the  chapel  of  the  school  and  community,  was  begun,  and 
I    Tripoli  Presbytery  was  organized  in  Amar,  a  region  so  wild  when 
I    I  lived  in  Tripoli,  that  we  could  not  visit  it  without  armed  horse- 
men to  protect  us.     Then,  as  brother  Samuel  said  about  Safita, 
we  dared  not  go  there  lest  the  people  shoot  us,  but  now  we  fear 
to  go  lest  they  ask  us  for  a  school,  when  we  have  neither  the 
means  nor  the  men  to  supply  it. 

The  fourth  Moslem  convert  of  this  year  appeared,  entered  on  a 
course  of  study,  and  has  become  an  eminently  useful  man. 

I        We  have  just  had  a  Moslem  sheikh  here  from  Egypt.     He  be- 

I    came  enlightened   there   and   fled  to  Syria.     Some  of  the  active 

i    brethren  in  a  neighbouring  city  became  interested  in  him  and  he 

!    came  on  to  Beirut.     He  attended  church  regularly  here  for  weeks 

and  showed  a  good  deal  of  religious  interest  and  fervour.     But  at 

length  the  gangrene  of  Islam  appeared,  and  he  was  found  engaged 

in  impure  practices.     He  then  told  us  that  in  Egypt  his  regular 

business    for  years  was  that  of  a  marrier  of  divorced  women. 


o5 


-a 
H 


i-^  *-5  -a 


>S 


CO    ^    1;^    ^ 
Oi    -tJ    1^    '^ 


A  Relapse  ^yi 

This  is  an  approved  business  in  orthodox  Moslem  circles.  If  a 
Moslem  in  anger  divorces  his  wife  twice,  he  cannot  remarry  her 
the  third  time  until  she  has  first  been  legally  married  for  a  day 
and  a  night  to  another  man  !  This  accommodating  sheikh  would 
marry  a  divorced  woman,  take  her  as  his  wife  for  one  night,  and 
then  divorce  her,  so  that  she  could  return  to  her  husband.  In 
this  way  he  made  his  living !  No  wonder  he  finds  it  as  hard  to 
be  moral  as  the  Corinthian  converts  did.  Oh,  the  depths  of  cor- 
ruption in  Islam !     Let  us  thank  God  for  a  pure  and  holy  religion  ! 


XXV 

Marking  Time 

Overworked — The  High  Anglican  Church  hostility — An  English 
Moslem — Religious  cranks — The  first  railroad — Educational  missions — 
The  Armenian  massacres. 

THE  year  1891  was  a  strenuous  one  for  me.  For  a  large 
part  of  the  time  I  was  alone  as  I  was  in  1866- 1867. 
Dr.  Samuel  Jessup  and  Dr.  Eddy  were  in  America  and 
Dr.  Dennis  was  called  home  on  account  of  his  father's  death. 
Dr.  Van  Dyck  was  in  feeble  health,  and  I  had  the  management 
of  the  press  with  all  its  accounts,  business  correspondence,  exam- 
ining of  manuscripts,  reading  proofs,  editing  the  Neshrah  and  the 
J/z^/Z^ci^:,  helping  the  native  pastor,  taking  my  turn  in  preaching  in 
the  church  and  in  the  college,  and  giving  regular  instruction  in  the 
theological  class,  besides  doing  the  custom-house  business.  In  my 
diary  I  find  that  my  average  weekly  letters  in  English  and  Arabic 
numbered  from  thirty  to  forty,  some  of  them  of  considerable  length. 
We  had  our  usual  struggle  with  the  custom-house  authorities, 
who  freely  granted  immunities  to  all  nationalities  but  the  Amer- 
icans. 

Two  more  Mohammedan  converts  appeared,  one  of  whom  has 

persevered  and  become  a  faithful  and  exemplary  man  in  his  pro- 
fession. The  other,  from  Samaria,  stated  that  before  he  was  born 
his  mother  had  vowed  that  if  she  had  a  son  she  would  have  him 
baptized  by  a  Greek  priest  and  taught  the  Greek  catechism  and 
creed.  He  grew  up  and  went  to  school.  Not  liking  the  picture 
worship  and  saint  worship  of  the  Greeks,  he  became  a  Protestant 
with  his  mother's  consent.  He  remained  some  time  with  Mr, 
Hardin  and  then  disappeared,  presumably  having  gone  with  a 
company  of  emigrants  to  America. 

A  cyclone  of  great  violence  swept  over  Lebanon  in  March. 

572 


High  Church  Hostility  573 

The  Damascus  diligence  with  six  mules,  and  carrying  passengers, 
near  the  summit  of  Mount  Lebanon  beyond  Sowfar,  was  hurled, 
mules  and  all,  about  200  feet  from  the  road  and  landed  in  a  field 
below.  The  mules  were  killed,  but  the  passengers  and  driver  es- 
caped with  slight  bruises.  A  few  days  after  I  passed  that  point 
in  the  diligence  going  east  and  saw  the  dead  mules  lying  in  the 
field  where  they  fell.  A  gaunt  wolf  stood  by  them  devouring 
the  flesh.  A  French  engineer  on  the  diligence  sprang  down, 
levelled  his  revolver,  and  fired.  The  wolf  turned  his  head  and 
kept  on  with  his  meal.  He  fired  again  and  the  wolf  limped 
away.  He  fired  a  third  shot  and  the  wolf  staggered  somewhat 
and  disappeared  down  the  mountain  slope.  Some  days  after,  on 
my  return,  I  asked  at  Sowfar  station  whether  anything  had  been 
heard  of  the  wolf.  "  Yes,"  they  said,  "  his  dead  body  was  found 
that  day  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff." 

The  struggle  between  High  Church  Anglicanism  and  the  truly 
evangelical  missionaries  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society  in 
Palestine  came  to  a  crisis,  with  the  appointment  of  Bishop  Blyth 
as  Anglican  bishop  in  Jerusalem.  As  all  the  missionaries  in  Pal- 
estine are  decidedly  Low  Church,  it  was  expected  that  on  the  oc- 
currence of  a  vacancy  in  the  English  Episcopate,  the  appointing 
power  would  send  a  man  in  sympathy  with  the  missionary  clergy. 
But  what  occurred  was  exactly  the  reverse.  The  Right  Reverend 
G.  F.  Popham  Blyth,  D.  D.,  was  appointed.  Before  his  day, 
Anglican  bishops  such  as  Gobat  and  Barclay,  with  deans,  canons, 
archdeacons,  and  rectors  had  visited  Beirut  and  officiated  in  our 
mission  church  at  the  English  service  and  conducted  the  com- 
munion service  which  we  all  attended.  But  on  the  arrival  of 
Bishop  Blyth,  up  went  the  bars.  At  his  first  service  in  Beirut, 
we  Americans,  in  our  simplicity,  Dr.  Bliss,  Dr.  Dennis,  Dr.  Sam- 
uel Jessup  and  myself  attended.  We  communed.  The  good 
bishop's  holy  soul  must  have  writhed  in  agony  at  the  thought  of 
such  uncircumcised  Presbyterians  taking  the  communion  at  his 
hands.  But  he  atoned  for  it  the  next  Sunday  by  setting  up  a 
barbed  wire  fence  around  the  communion  tablein  language  some- 


574  Marking  Time 

thing-  like  this :  "  Hereafter  any  one  of  this  flock  wishing  to 
commune  with  Catholics,  Greeks,  or  Presbyterians  must  first  ob- 
tain permission  from  the  bishop's  chaplain  in  charge  of  this 
church.  And  any  Catholic,  Greek,  or  Presbyterian  wishing  to 
commune  here  must  first  obtain  permission  from  the  bishop's 
chaplain."  That  was  a  fence  intended  to  be  an  offense,  and  the 
little  exclusive  fold  has  not  been  invaded  since  by  Presbyterian, 
nor  even  by  the  Evangelical  Church  of  England  missionaries  in 
this  part  of  Syria.  He  tried  the  threat  of  excommunication 
against  two  eminent  English  missionary  ladies  and  received  a  re- 
ply that  if  he  persisted  in  his  course  they  would  complain  of  him 
to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  I  have  said  enough  in  a  pre- 
vious chapter  (on  the  Greek  Church)  with  regard  to  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  Oriental  churches. 

My  little  booklet,  "  The  Greek  Church  and  Protestant  Mis- 
sions," which  was  published  by  the  Christian  Literature  Society 
in  New  York  and  reprinted  in  two  editions  in  England,  contains 
all  I  have  to  say  further  on  this  subject. 

It  is  a  special  delight  of  these  high  Anglicans  to  hobnob  with 
the  Greek  monks,  bishops,  and  priests  and  to  do  all  in  their  power 
to  antagonize  the  Syrian  evangelical  churches.  Any  attempt  on 
the  part  of  Maronites,  Catholics,  or  Greeks  to  break  away  from 
the  Mariolatry  and  picture  worship  of  their  old  churches  and 
from  the  grinding  tyranny  of  their  priests,  as  our  fathers  did  in 
the  time  of  the  Reformation,  will  be  frowned  upon  by  the  Angli- 
can clergy  and  every  possible  means  be  used  to  drive  them  back 
into  spiritual  bondage. 

In  1850,  Archbishop  Sumner,  in  an  agreement  with  Baron 
Bunsen  about  the  Jerusalem  bishopric,  said  that  when  men  in  the 
Oriental  churches  become  "  emancipated  from  the  fetters  of  a 
corrupt  faith,  we  have  no  right  to  turn  our  backs  upon  the  liber- 
ated captive  and  bid  him  return  to  his  slavery  or  seek  aid  else- 
where." 

In  1907,  the  Anglican  bishop  in  Jerusalem  •*  requested  his 
Haifa  Chaplain  Archdeacon  Dowling  to  write  to  the  Greek 
patriarch  of  Jerusalem  asking  his  approval  of  opening  negotia- 


Anglicans  and  Greek  Catholics  575 

tions,  saying,  *  The  terms  on  which  the  Anglican  Church  can  ne- 
gotiate with  the  Orthodox  Greek  Church  are  formal  recognition 
between  the  two  churches  of  the  vaHdity  of  Holy  Baptism  and 
Holy  Orders.' "  The  patriarch  replied  that  the  Eastern  Church 
cannot  accept  the  baptism  or  the  orders  of  the  Anglican  Church, 
and  only  "  the  entire  Eastern  Orthodox  Church  and  the  entire 
Anglican  Church"  are  competent  to  determine  this  question. 

One  httle  specimen  of  animated  millinery  tried  to  prohibit 
Rev.  H.  E.  Fox  of  London  from  preaching  in  our  church  in 
Beirut.  Finding  that  he  was  going  to  preach  at  11  a.  m.,  he 
withdrew  an  invitation  to  him  to  officiate  in  the  Anglican  even- 
ing service !  Mr.  Fox  wrote  him  a  letter  in  reply  which  con- 
tained some  fatherly  counsel  and  severe  rebuke  to  the  little 
usurper  which  he  will  not  soon  forget.  Mr.  Fox  sent  me  a  copy 
of  his  letter  which  I  have  on  file.  The  Church  Missionary  So- 
ciety, true  to  its  evangelical  principles,  will  not  allow  its  churches 
and  chapels  on  missionary  ground  to  be  consecrated  by  a  bishop, 
and  they  freely  invite  missionaries  of  other  churches  to  preach  in 
them.  I  would  recommend  to  the  Anglican  clergy  who  are  so 
keen  upon  fraternizing  with  the  higher  clergy  of  the  Orthodox 
Church  in  Jerusalem,  especially  the  "  Brotherhood  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,"  to  read  a  book  published  by  the  Orthodox  Russian 
bishop  of  Moscow  about  the  year  1885  after  spending  a  year  in 
Jerusalem.  He  exposes  the  shocking  immoralities  of  these  clergy 
and  says  that  no  one  can  hear  what  he  heard  and  know  what  he 
knows  without  blushing  for  the  good  name  of  Christianity.  He 
enters  into  details  with  regard  to  the  numerous  progeny  of  these 
holy  celibate  monks,  who  are  sent  to  Cyprus  and  trained  in  their 
turn  to  be  monks.  A  prominent  Greek  gentleman  in  Beirut, 
connected  with  the  Russian  consulate-general,  gave  me  a  copy 
of  the  book. 

An  English  traveller  who  visited  Beirut  April  16,  1891,  wrote 
out  the  following  questions  to  Dr.  Van  Dyck,  which  I  give  in 
brief  with  the  doctor's  replies  : 

"  I.  Can  Bishop  Blyth  and  the  Church  Missionary  Society  be 
reconciled  ?    Ans.     No. 


576  Marking  Time 

"  2.  Can  the  Anglican  and  Greek  Churches  be  affiliated  ? 
Ans.  Yes,  by  all  Englishmen  being  rebaptized  and  the  clergy  re- 
ordained,  and  receiving  Holy  Chrism  with  a  mixture  cooked  over 
a  fire  made  of  rotten  and  filthy  pictures  of  the  saints  which  have 
been  worn  out  by  being  kissed  for  years. 

"  3.  Can  the  American  missions  and  the  British  Syrian  Schools 
evangelize  Syria  ?     Ans.     Yes,  in  time. 

"  4.  Is  a  theological  school,  endowed  in  England  and  manned 
by  natives,  needed  ?  Ans.  No,  the  East  is  pauperized  enough 
now." 

While  the  American  Mission  was  holding  its  semi-annual  meet- 
ing in  August  in  Suk  el  Gharb,  news  came  of  the  death  in  the 
neighbouring  village  of  Shemlan  of  Mrs.  E.  H.  Watson,  an  Eng- 
lish missionary  aged  eighty-seven.  She  had  laboured  in  Chris- 
tian education  for  more  than  thirty  years.  Before  coming  to 
Syria,  she  had  taught  school  in  Ireland,  in  Brooklyn,  in  Crete,  in 
Valparaiso,  in  Athens,  in  Smyrna,  and  lastly  in  Beirut,  Shemlan, 
Sidon,  and  Ain  Zehalteh.  For  sixty-two  years  she  was  a  teacher. 
In  stature  she  was  diminutive  and  her  physique  was  that  of  a 
child,  but  her  life  was  one  of  constant  toil  and  self-sacrifice.  She 
crossed  seas  and  oceans  at  her  own  charges  and  here  in  Syria 
erected  buildings,  founded  schools,  and  aided  in  Christian  work 
with  the  greatest  zeal  and  patience.  She  built  and  presented  to 
our  mission  the  house  in  Deir  Mimas  and  the  church  in  Shemlan. 
The  Training-School  for  Girls  in  Shemlan  was  founded  by  her, 
and  its  edifice  reared  and  deeded  by  her  to  a  British  Female 
Education  Society  and  by  that  society  finally  given  to  the  British 
Syrian  Mission.  In  some  other  enterprises  she  suffered  grievous 
disappointment,  but  this  alone  is  her  monument. 

The  following  week,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hoskins'  infant  son 
Horace  E.  Hoskins  died  in  Suk.  On  August  31st,  Syria  suffered 
a  great  loss  in  the  death  of  Mrs.  Augusta  Mentor  Mott,  long  the 
directress  of  the  British  Syrian  Schools  and  Bible  Mission. 
These  schools  were  founded  by  the  late  Mrs.  J.  Bowen  Thomp- 
son, then  conducted  by  her  sisters,  the  late  Mrs.  Henry  Smith 


Bereavements — Quilliam  the  English  Moslem     577 

and  Mrs.  Mott.  They  were  a  remarkable  trio  of  sisters,  and  with 
the  admirable  corps  of  teachers  associated  with  them,  have  done 
a  work  of  the  highest  value  in  the  education  of  the  daughters  of 
Syria.  Thoroughly  spiritual  in  their  religious  character,  liberal 
and  broad  minded,  using  their  fortunes  and  their  sympathies  in 
the  work,  they  have  left  their  mark  on  Syrian  family  life  and  done 
this  people  immortal  service.  Although  belonging  to  the 
Church  of  England,  they  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
ritualistic  Romanizing  party  and  cooperated  with  our  own  mission 
and  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Mission  in  Damascus,  and  their  teach- 
ers and  converted  pupils  were  communicants  in  the  American 
Mission  churches. 

Before  her  death  Mrs.  Mott  sent  for  me  to  come  and  pray  with 
her,  and  stated  that  she  wished  the  British  Syrian  Schools  to  be 
conducted  in  the  future  on  the  same  basis  as  before  and  to  con- 
tinue in  cordial  cooperation  with  the  American  Mission. 

In  October  and  December,  1891,  death  again  invaded  the  mis- 
sion circle.  Little  Geraldine  Dale,  daughter  of  the  late  Rev. 
Gerald  F.  Dale  of  Zahleh,  died  after  a  brief  illness,  a  severe  afflic- 
tion to  her  already  afflicted  and  widowed  mother.  This  beautiful 
child  was  laid  beside  her  father  and  sister  in  the  mission  cemetery. 
Then  followed  in  two  months  the  sudden  death  of  Mrs,  Dr.  Wm. 
Schauffler,  after  childbirth,  and  on  the  day  before  Christmas  I  f 
baptized  little  William  Gray  Schauffler  over  his  mother's  coffin. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  my  old  Hebrew  teacher  in  Union  Semi- 
nary, Rev.  Dr.  Theron  F.  Hawkes,  and  the  father  was  the  grand- 
son of  the  distinguished  Dr.  Schauffler,  one  of  the  Bible  transla- 
tors of  Constantinople. 

On  September  30th,  Rev,  Asaad  Abdullah  was  ordained  in 
Ain  Zehalteh  and  has  continued  steadfast  in  the  ministry  and  is 
now,  after  fifteen  years,  the  useful  pastor  of  the  Beirut  Evangel- 
ical Church. 

J 

About  this  time,  one  Quilliam,  an  Englishman  in  Liverpool,    '^ 

embraced  Islam.     He  was  invited  to  Constantinople  and  honoured 


578  Marking  Time 

and  received  the  name  of  Mohammed  Quilliam.  The  Moslem 
papers  of  the  East  rejoiced  with  great  joy  that  now  Mohammed 
Webb,  who  had  collapsed  in  New  York,  was  to  be  succeeded  by  a 
genuine  English  convert.  Quilliam  received  money  in  aid  of  his 
scheme  to  convert  England  from  Turkey,  Egypt,  and  India.  In 
1903,  the  Moslem  sheikh,  Abdul  Kerim  Effendi  Marat,  of 
Medina,  the  Holy  City  of  Islam  (where  Mohammed  was  buried), 
having  heard  of  the  great  English  Moslem,  visited  England  and 
became  the  guest  of  Quilliam  of  Liverpool.  He  was  surprised, 
shocked,  disgusted.  He  wrote  long  letters  to  the  Moslem  Arabic 
journal  Thomrat,  No.  1,058,  of  Beirut,  in  which  he  described 
his  feelings,  on  being  met  at  the  station  by  a  "  dog-cart  driven 
by  a  handsome  young  lady,  daughter  of  Abdullah  Quilliam,  who 
wore  a  fancy  hat,  without  a  veil  (God  forbid  !).  She  was  one  of 
the  converts  to  Islam.  The  mosque  was  his  house,  the  minaret, 
a  balcony  on  the  street.  The  prayer  room  was  fitted  with  seats 
like  a  church  and  at  the  time  of  prayer,  Quilliam  went  up  to  the 
balcony  and,  Istughfur  Allah  !  (God  forgive  !)  repeated  in  Eng- 
lish a  call  to  prayer.  Then  this  unveiled  girl  sat  down  to  a  small 
organ  and  played  the  tunes,  while  the  handful  of  men  and  boys 
sang  out  of  books  hymns  such  as  the  Christians  use,  with  the 
name  of  Christ  omitted  !  I  was  amazed.  Then  Quilliam  said  a 
few  words,  and  they  prayed,  not  in  the  required  kneelings  and 
bowings,  but  in  a  free  and  easy  way  shocking  to  the  true  be- 
liever. I  found  that  he  knew  no  Arabic,  that  he  read  the  Koran 
in  English  (!)  and  that  the  women  go  unveiled  like  Christian 
women.  He  knows  nothing  about  the  principles  and  practice  of 
Islam,  but  whenever  he  hears  of  men  converted  in  Africa  or 
India,  he  announces  it  to  his  subscribers  in  India  or  Turkey  as  the 
result  of  the  labours  of  his  missionaries.  When  the  Emir  of 
Afghanistan  visited  England,  he  gave  Quilliam  twenty-five  hun- 
dred pounds,  and  the  Prince  of  Lagos,  West  Africa,  gave  him  one 
thousand  pounds,  supposing  that  he  is  printing  Moslem  books 
and  leading  the  English  people  into  Islam.  He  asked  me  to 
preach  and  I  did.  I  told  the  whole  truth.  I  told  him  that  if, 
after  being  in  Protestant  schools  twenty  years,  he  really  wished 


Quilliam  Exposed  579 

to  serve  the  cause  of  Islam,  he  would  have  studied  the  Koran  and 
Islamic  books  by  bringing  a  learned  sheikh  here  to  teach  Arabic 
and  the  Koran,  whereas  now  he  asks  them  to  enter  a  religion  of 
which  he  knows  nothing. 

"  In  leaving  him,  after  thanking  him  for  his  hospitality,  I  said, 
'  I  advise  you  at  once  to  bring  three  learned  Moslem  sheikhs  with 
the  funds  you  receive  from  India  and  Turkey,  and  let  them  teach 
Arabic  and  the  holy  faith  and  publish  a  journal.'  I  also  said, 
'  You  must  command  your  women  and  girls  to  veil  their  faces 
and  never  let  any  man  but  their  fathers  and  husbands  see  them.' 
I  reminded  him  that  when  six  hundred  negroes  in  Lagos  with 
their  emir  had  accepted  Islam  through  agents  we  sent  from  the 
Hejaz  in  Arabia,  he  took  my  report  of  the  same,  and  sent  it  to 
the  Sheikh  ul  Islam  in  Constantinople  claiming  that  these  were 
converts  of  his  agents  whom  he  had  sent  to  West  Africa !  and  I 
rebuked  him  for  this  barefaced  lying  in  order  to  raise  money. 
The  fact  is  he  knows  nothing  about  Islam." 

This  is  a  hteral  translation  of  Sheikh  Abdul  Kerim's  letter. 

During  this  year,  two  itinerant  evangelists,  whom  we  will  call  X 
and  Z,  came  to  Syria.  They  held  Bible  readings  and  preached 
in  chapels  in  Beirut  and  vicinity.  They  agreed  on  one  point, 
and  that  was  their  suspicion  and  jealousy  of  each  other.  X 
came  to  Dr.  Mackie  of  the  Anglo-American  Church  in  Beirut 
and  said,  "  I  want  to  warn  you  against  Z.  He  cannot  be  trusted. 
He  will  pry  into  the  secrets  of  your  families  and  then  blaze  them 
abroad  in  the  pulpit.  Look  out  for  him."  A  (ew  days  later  Z 
came  to  Dr.  Mackie  and  said,  "  I  hear  you  have  asked  X  to 
preach  in  your  pulpit — a  great  mistake,  sir.  He  cannot  be  re- 
lied on.  Those  X's,  even  the  bishop,  are  all  a  little  '  off' ;  beware 
of  him."  One  of  them  afterwards  asked  permission  to  lecture 
on  the  Second  Coming.  It  was  known  that  he  held  radical 
arithmetical  views  on  the  subject.  So  a  pledge  was  taken  from 
him  that  he  would  not  fix  the  day  nor  the  year  for  the  Second 
Coming  of  Christ.  He  solemnly  promised  that  he  would  avoid 
that  aspect   of   the  subject.     A   learned   elder   of  the   Arabic 


580  Marking  Time 

Church  acted  as  interpreter.  After  a  time  his  arithmetic  got  the 
better  of  his  conscience  and  he  solemnly  declared  that  "  as  sure 
as  the  Word  of  God  is  true,  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  will  end  in 
1910,  and  Christ's  reign  on  earth  will  begin.  There  will  be  no 
king,  emperor,  president,  or  sultan,  and  the  Turkish  Empire  will 
come  to  an  end  ! "  The  interpreter  was  terrified.  There  might 
be  present  a  Turkish  policeman  or  spy,  and  the  interpreter  and 
all  his  brethren  be  arrested  as  enemies  of  the  Sultan.  So  he 
adroitly  generalized  the  language  and  perhaps  saved  us  from 
having  our  Sunday-school  closed  by  the  police ! 

After  the  meeting  I  confronted  the  man  with  his  violation  of 
his  solemn  pledge, — he  did  not  seem  to  regret  what  he  had 
done,  but  met  my  protest  with  "  a  smile  that  was  bland." 

It  is  often  difficult  to  know  what  is  duty  when  strangers  come 
and  ask  permission  to  address  the  Sunday-school,  the  girls' 
boarding-school  or  the  college. 

It  is  generally  necessary,  however,  to  warn  the  eager  speaker 
to  avoid  absolutely  all  flattering  remarks  about  the  "  beautiful 
bright  eyes  of  the  girls,"  and  the  "  intelligent  faces  "  or  "  high 
promise  "  of  the  boys.  I  have  often  been  obliged,  when  trans- 
lating for  a  tourist  speaker,  to  use  my  own  discretion  as  to  the 
amount  of  "  soft  soap  "  proper  to  be  administered  to  the  hearers. 

One  speaker  in  the  college  told  the  students  that  if  they  ever 
came  to  America  he  would  be  glad  to  see  them  in  his  home 

in .     Out    came    the    note-books    and   within    the    next 

two  years  the  quiet  country  study  of  this  good  man  was  invaded, 
to  his  dismay,  by  a  number  of  eager  youths,  expecting  that  he 
would  find  them  work  in  their  adopted  country.  He  had  no 
means  of  furnishing  them  employment.  They  had  taken  him  at 
his  word.  He  had  forgotten  it,  but  they  had  not,  and  they  were 
disappointed. 

In  several  instances  professors,  pastors,  and  teachers  have 
given  high  recommendations  to  young  men  for  the  foreign  mis- 
sionary work,  and  afterwards,  when  the  men  found  they  were 
out  of  place  and  had  to  give  up  the  work,  those  who  recom- 


Disturbing  the  Good-will  of  Ishmael  581 

mended  them  admitted  that  they  did  it  "  with  misgivings,"  as 
one  seminary  professor  stated.  The  result  was  the  expense  of 
outfit,  thousands  of  miles  out  and  back,  a  disappointed  labourer,  a 
disappointed  mission,  and  the  loss  of  much  money.  I  felt  at  the 
time  that  the  man  who  had  the  "  misgivings  "  should  now  try  to 
make  amends  for  his  imprudence  by  liberal  "  givings  "  to  make 
up  the  loss. 

In  August  a  Boston  man  bearing  a  familiar  name  wrote  to  me 
asking  information  about  the  Arabic  language,  and  added  the 
extraordinary  "  hope  that  you  will  not  in  your  missionary  work 
be  guilty  of  indiscretion  in  disturbing  the  good-will  of  Ishmael." 
I  wrote  him  that  I  was  unable  to  grasp  his  meaning.  According 
to  Genesis  16:  12,  "  Ishmael  will  be  a  wild  man.  His  hand  will 
be  against  every  man  and  every  man's  hand  will  be  against  him." 
The  Bedawin  and  the  people  of  Arabia  are  the  Ishmaelites  of 
to-day.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  a  foreigner  can  secure  the 
"  good-will "  of  such  a  body  of  robbers  and  murderers.  They 
live  by  constant  forays  and  cowardly  midnight  "  ghazus  "  upon 
each  others'  camps. 

The  famous  Mohammed  Smair,  the  Bedawy  emir  who  visited 
Beirut,  told  me  that  a  Christian  teacher  or  khotib  might 
live  among  his  tribe  if  he  had  a  good  horse  and  would  migrate 
with  the  tribe  in  their  nomadic  Hfe  and  live  as  they  live,  but  he 
would  have  to  help  in  the  "  ghazu  "  against  other  tribes.  Our 
Boston  friend  might  say  that  such  a  course  would  be  justified  if 
thereby  we  secure  the  "  good-will  "  of  the  Arabs.  The  true  way 
to  secure  the  permanent  good-will  of  these  poor  Ishmaelites 
would  be  to  compel  them  to  abandon  their  nomad  life  and 
internecine  wars,  settle  down,  and  cultivate  the  soil  and  live  in 
peace.  This  will  come  when  there  is  a  strong  and  honest 
government  in  Syria,  Palestine,  and  Mesopotamia. 

If  the  Boston  scholar  meant  that  the  Gospel  is  not  to  be 
preached  to  the  Arabs  because  they  are  Moslems,  lest  their 
*'  good-will  "  be  disturbed,  I  will  suggest  that  he  read  Matthew 
10:  34,  "Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  send  peace  on  earth:    I 


582  Marking  Time 

came  not  to  send  peace  but  a  sword."  This  is  the  teaching  of 
the  "  Prince  of  Peace."  Light  dissipates  darkness.  Truth 
antagonizes  error.  Ahab  charged  Elijah  with  "  troubhng 
Israel."  EHjah  repHed  that  the  trouble  came  from  Ahab  and  his 
idolatrous  abandonment  of  God.  In  every  mission  field  the 
"  Gospel  of  Peace "  stirs  up  strife  and  hostility.  "  Bonds  and 
imprisonment "  awaited  Paul  in  every  city.  In  our  day  in  every 
heathen  and  Mohammedan  land,  sons  are  persecuted  by  fathers 
and  fathers  by  sons.  I  have  known  an  ignorant  Maronite 
mother  to  poison  her  own  son,  a  worthy  and  lovable  man.  Mos- 
lems hang  or  shoot  or  poison  apostates  and  glory  in  their  shame. 
Christ  has  bidden  us  to  go  and  preach  the  Gospel.  He  says  "  be 
wise  as  serpents  and  harmless  as  doves,"  but  He  also  says,  "  go 
and  teach  all  nations  "  that  is  "  evangelize  them,  give  them  the 
pure  Gospel,"  because  they  are  sinners  and  need  it,  and  without 
Christ  they  are  lost. 

In  a  land  like  this,  every  year  yields  its  crop  of  cranks. 
Sometimes  singly  and  sometimes  in  organized  companies.  The 
careful  chronicle  of  all  the  religious,  political,  and  ethical  cranks 
who  have  ravaged  the  Holy  Land  during  the  past  fifty  years 
would  furnish  a  fruitful  theme  for  psychological  research. 

Here  is  one  of  them.  In  July,  1891,  an  archaeological  friend 
wrote  from  Jerusalem  that  he  had  been  playing  "  Halma  "  at  the 
house  of  the  British  consul  with  the  "  Forerunner."  Some  time 
after,  this  "  forerunner "  appeared  at  Hasbeiya  under  Mount 
Hermon  and  put  up  at  the  school  of  an  English  lady.  He  was 
in  sorry  plight,  his  clothes  ragged  and  dirty  and  no  change  of 
raiment ;  a  package  of  dried  plants  about  all  he  possessed.  He 
was  obliged  to  go  to  bed  to  have  his  garments  washed  and  the 
good  hostess  was  horrified  to  find  that  the  guest-room  had  be- 
come infested  with  vermin  of  the  third  plague  of  Egypt. 

He  stated  solemnly  that  he  was  the  "  Forerunner"  and  that  he 
was  going  to  the  summit  of  Hermon  to  meet  the  Lord  and  that 
then  they  were  going  to  London  to  resurrect  Dean  Stanley ! 

He  next  appeared  at  the  beautiful  cottage  home  of  Mr.  and 


Tramps  583 

Mrs.  Bird,  in  Abeih,  Mount  Lebanon,  and  asked  for  a  lodging. 
Mrs.  Bird,  who  is  a  model  of  the  New  England  housewife,  was 
no  less  horrified  than  was  the  Hasbeiya  lady  to  see  this  unkempt, 
ragged,  and  unsavoury  tramp  entering  her  neat  and  spotless 
house.  Here  also  he  left  vestiges.  The  family  were  amazed  at 
his  refined  language  and  his  knowledge  of  botanical  science,  yet 
none  the  less  relieved  when  he  took  his  departure. 

Soon  after,  Dr.  George  E.  Post,  of  the  college  in  Beirut,  found 
a  tramp  asleep  on  the  porch  of  his  house,  and  ordered  him  to 
decamp.  He  begged  for  food,  and  promised  to  work,  if  the  doc- 
tor would  give  him  passage  money  to  Alexandria.  Dr.  Post, 
who  is  a  distinguished  botanist,  soon  found  out  that  the  "  pack  " 
of  this  straggler  contained  dried  plants  and  flowers.  One  thing 
led  to  another.  The  man  said  his  name  was  S ,  from  Bos- 
ton, He  had  tramped  on  foot  from  the  Suez  Canal  to  Gaza  and 
Jerusalem  and  thence  through  the  land  to  Beirut,  hving  on  the 
people.  The  doctor  agreed  to  pay  his  fare  if  he  would  write  out 
a  journal  of  his  trip  from  Egypt  to  Beirut.  He  did  so.  It  was 
written  in  elegant  phrase,  a  model  of  Addisonian  diction,  humor- 
ous, keen  in  observation,  and  with  a  decided  scientific  turn.  It 
was  impossible  to  say  whether  the  man  was  a  scholar  with  a 
crazy  streak  of  mental  hallucination,  or  whether  the  "  Fore- 
runner "  was  assumed  as  a  disguise  to  account  for  his  unwashed 
person  and  filthy  rags,  and  to  enable  him  to  beg  his  way  through 
the  tramp-trodden  Holy  Land. 

This  summer  I  had  a  visit  from  a  tramp  of  quite  another  stamp. 
When  at  my  desk  in  the  press.  Sheikh  Mohammed  Hassan,  one 
of  the  keepers  of  the  Sacred  Haram  of  Mecca,  was  announced. 
He  was  not  of  the  unwashed.  He  had  gone  through  all  the  ab- 
lutions of  the  orthodox  Sunni  Moslems  from  his  youth  up.  His 
flowing  robe  and  immaculate  white  turban,  with  his  mellifluous 
Arabic,  excited  my  admiration  as  it  had  done  at  about  this  time 
of  the  year  for  several  years.  He  was  on  his  annual  round  to 
gather  in  the  spare  copper  and  silver  of  the  faithful. 

On  his  first  visit  he  received  a  finely-bound  Bible  for  the  sherif 
of  Mecca,  which  he  afterwards  reported  as  having  been  received 


584  Marking  Time 

with  thanks.  This  time  he  descanted  volubly  on  the  noble 
generosity  of  the  Americans  and  how  they  love  all  men  and  help 
all  laudable  enterprises.  He  then  produced  from  under  the  folds 
of  his  robe  a  box  of  Mecca  dates  and  a  bottle  of  water  from  the 
Bir  Zem  Zem  in  Mecca.  I  accepted  the  dates  with  profuse 
thanks,  but  took  pains  to  see  that  the  Zem  Zem  bottle  was  well 
sealed,  as  the  water  is  reputed  to  have  more  microbes  to  the 
ounce  than  any  water  on  earth.  It  would  have  been  preposter- 
ous to  give  a  small  present  to  such  a  distinguished  and  learned 
mendicant.     I  got  off  with  two  dollars  and  an  Arabic  book. 

Several  other  "  forerunners "  have  appeared  in  Palestine  in 
latter  years,  leading  all  decent  and  sane  people  to  wish  that  the 
wardens  of  insane  hospitals  in  Europe  and  America  would  keep 
their  lunatics  at  home. 

The  American  diplomatic  representatives  at  this  time  were 
Hon.  S.  Hirsch,  United  States  Minister  at  the  Porte  and  Mr. 
Erhard  Bissinger,  consul  in  Beirut,  both  of  whom  were  efficient 
and  conscientious  men  and  an  honour  to  their  country.  The 
American  Mission  in  Syria  sent  to  each  of  them  letters  of 
thanks  and  high  appreciation  of  their  efforts  to  promote  Ameri- 
can educational  and  benevolent  interests  in  Turkey,  as  well  as  in 
the  interests  of  our  commerce. 

As  a  rule,  our  representatives  have  been  able  men  and  efficient. 
In  these  fifty-one  years  I  have  known  ten  consuls  in  Beirut,  and 
not  more  than  three  of  them  left  Syria  unregretted.  Six  were 
total  abstinence  men.  Over  a  few  I  would  draw  the  veil.  Up 
to  the  year  1906  their  salaries  were  quite  inadequate,  and  they 
were  not  able  without  great  self-denial  to  maintain  adequately 
the  dignity  of  their  country.  The  new  consular  regulations  will 
insure  the  appointment  of  efficient  men  with  sufficient  support  to 
make  it  worth  the  while  of  first-class  men  to  enter  the  foreign 
consular  service. 

1892 — The  year  1892  was  marked  by  the  death  of  Kamil  in 
Bussorah,  of  Mr.  R,  Konawaty,  an  aged  disciple  of  eighty  in 


6- '-  j' -,:  » 


GORGE  OF  NAHR  BARADA   (THE  ABANA) 
And  the  Damascus  Railway. 


The  New  Railway  585 

Beirut,  and  of  Wassa  Pasha,  Governor  of  Mount  Lebanon,  June 
29th,  and  the  arrival  of  his  successor,  Naoom  Pasha,  Septem- 
ber 4th. 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  S.  Jessup,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  W.  K.  Eddy,  and 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Daniel  Bliss  arrived  from  furloughs. 

In  April  Dr.  Van  Dyck  received  the  honorary  degree  of 
L.  H.  D.  from  the  University  of  Edinburgh  and  on  December 
23d,  his  friends,  native  and  foreign,  congratulated  him  and  Mrs. 
Van  Dyck  on  their  golden  wedding  and  presented  him  with  a 
beautiful  English  cathedral  clock. 

On  March  loth  another  Moslem  convert,  Mustafa  from  Damas- 
cus, passed  through  Beirut  en  route  for  the  land  of  liberty.  A 
young  Moslem  woman  educated  in  a  Christian  school  was  sum- 
moned before  the  Maktubji,  with  her  parents,  and  charged  with 
being  a  Christian.  She  said,  "  Yes,  I  am  a  Christian  :  I  trust  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  my  Saviour  and  I  am  not  afraid  to  con- 
fess Him  before  men.  Do  with  me  what  you  please.  I  belong 
to  Jesus  Christ  and  do  not  fear."  The  man  threatened  her  but 
she  was  so  calm  and  firm  that  he  decided  to  let  her  alone.  And 
she  is  as  firm  to-day  (1909)  as  then. 

On  August  28th  the  first  locomotive  reached  Jerusalem,  and 
December  8th  ground  was  broken  in  Beirut  for  the  Beirut- 
Damascus  Railway.  A  great  company  of  invited  guests  assem- 
bled on  the  spot,  and  while  the  Nakib  el  Ashraf  Abdurahman 
Effendi  Nahass  offered  an  eloquent  prayer,  twelve  sheep  were 
sacrificed  in  front  of  him  and  the  meat  given  to  the  poor.  The 
sacrifice  of  sheep  is  a  constant  custom  in  Turkey  on  laying  the 
corner-stone  of  any  new  building,  or  opening  any  new  enterprise. 

A  division  occurred  in  Beirut  church  and  the  seceding  por- 
tion called  a  pastor  of  their  own.  It  was  a  sad  experience  to  all 
concerned,  but  the  new  native  churches  have  to  learn  by  experi- 
ence, and  the  trials  through  which  they  pass  may  yet  prove  to 
be  the  means  of  greater  ultimate  success  and  progress.  The 
only  practical  gain  was  the  fact  that  the  new  church  thus  formed 
paid  its  own  way  without  expense  to  the  mission.  Time  is  a 
great  healer  and  the  good  men  who  have  been  temporarily  sepa- 


586  Marking  Time 

rated  will  no  doubt  eventually  come  together  again.  I  shall  give 
no  details  of  this  church  dissension,  as  it  is  clear  that  all  parties 
would  prefer  that  it  be  forgotten. 

I  In  January  the  zealous  censor  of  the  press  expunged  from 
lour  weekly  NeshraJi  an  account  of  the  oppression  of  the  Israel- 
lites  by  Pharaoh.  He  said  that  Egypt  is  under  the  Sultan  and 
,'!oppression  of  the  Jews  could  not  occur  in  Egypt.  We  were  so 
stupefied  by  this  display  of  learning  and  loyalty  that  we  tamely 
submitted.  The  rebellion  of  Absalom  was  also  forbidden  to  be 
mentioned,  although  taken  verbatim  from  the  Scriptures.  In 
most  cases  we  might  appeal  to  the  Waly,  and  the  Walys  are 
generally  men  of  sense  and  experience  and  would  overrule  the 
decision  of  a  petty  press  censor,  but  when  your  type  is  on  the 
press  and  your  hour  of  publication  is  at  hand  you  have  no  time 
to  draw  up  a  formal  protest  on  stamped  paper  stating  your 
grievances.  In  the  fall  of  that  same  year  we  printed  a  collection 
of  eulogiums  of  the  Bible  by  eminent  men.  These  were  all 
stricken  out  as  implying  that  the  Koran  was  not  the  only  divine 
Book  in  the  world,  and  our  paper  threatened  with  suppression  if 
we  repeated  such  language  ! 

Swarms  of  locusts  again  appeared  in  Syria.  In  Aleppo  the 
Waly  ordered  every  man  in  the  district  to  bring  one  oke  (three 
pounds)  to  the  government  inspectors,  to  be  destroyed.     Four 

!  million  okes  were  brought  according  to  the  official  journal,  or 
about  5,500  tons.     These  flights    of  locusts  are  terrific.     They 
darken  the  sky  and  lighting  down,  destroy  every  green  thing. 
I  have  seen  them  three  or  four  inches  deep  on  the  ground.     A 
!  tailor  in  Beirut  when  ordered  out  with  the  rest  of  the  crowd  to 
I  gather  a  sack  full  of  locusts,  brought  back  his  sack  after  sunset 
f  and  locked  it  up  in  his  shop.     Each  locust's  body  contains  about 
ninety  eggs  like  the  spawn  of  a  fish.     The  tailor  was  taken  down 
with  a  fever  that  night  and  did  not  return  for  a  month.     On  his 
return,  he  opened  the  door  and  a  swarm  of  young  "  gowgahs  " 
came  jumping  out  like  gigantic  fleas,  black  imps  with  heads  like 
horses.     The  eggs  had  hatched  out  and  for  his  two  thousand 


Mohammedan  Relics  ^87 

locusts  he  had  180,000,  completely  covering  his  shop  and  ruin- 
ing his  stock  of  goods. 

An  event  of  the  year  greatly  regretted  by  the  mission  was  the 
resignation  of  Dr.  James  S.  Dennis. 

Owing  to  a  quarrel  in  the  Orthodox  Greek  Church  in  Damascus, 
three  hundred  Greeks  declared  themselves  Protestants  and  at- 
tended the  Protestant  church.  The  missionaries  welcomed  them 
and  gave  them  daily  evangelical  instruction,  but  felt  assured 
from  the  outset  that  it  was  only  the  "  morning  cloud  and  early 
dew,"  and  was  only  meant  as  a  menace  to  the  other  party  to 
yield  and  in  a  short  time  the  whole  three  hundred  who  had 
marched  up  the  hill  marched  down  again  and  resumed  their 
prayers  to  the  holy  pictures  and  the  Virgin. 

A  new  mosque  having  been  built  in  Tripoli,  Syria,  it  was  dedi- 
cated June  17th,  by  the  arrival  of  three  hairs  from  the  beard  of 
Mohammed,  from  Constantinople.  Thousands  of  Moslems  went 
down  to  the  seaport  to  greet  the  casket,  and  half-naked  men 
danced  in  the  procession  and  cut  themselves  with  knives  amid 
the  jubilation  of  the  populace.  In  the  addresses  made  on  the 
occasion,  according  to  the  Moslem  journals,  there  was  no  expla- 
nation as  to  what  special  virtue  came  from  these  relics.  It  has 
been  supposed  that  the  Moslems  borrowed  the  custom  from  the 
Christian  crusaders  who  carried  off  shiploads  of  relics  from  the 
Holy  Land  to  Europe.  The  conduct  of  the  ignorant  populace 
can  be  explained,  as  it  can  in  the  Orthodox  Greek  orgies  at  the 
fraudulent  Greek  fire  at  Easter  in  Jerusalem,  and  the  worshipping 
of  bones  and  hairs  and  other  relics  of  reputed  saints  in  almost 
every  papal  church  in  Europe  ;  but  the  winking  of  Greek  and 
Roman  bishops  and  Moslem  effendis  and  kadis  at  such  puerile 
superstition,  and  giving  them  the  sanction  of  their  presence  and 
cooperation  cannot  be  too  severely  condemned. 

In  April  I  wrote  to  Dr.  Dennis  in  New  York  pleading  by 
order  of  the  mission  for  reinforcements. 

It  was  urged  that  "  Dr.  Van  Dyck  is  seventy-two.  Dr.  Eddy 


588  Marking  Time 

sixty-four,  H.  H.  Jessup  sixty,  S.  Jessup  fifty-nine,  Dr.  Daniel 
Bliss  at  the  college  sixty-nine,  and  Mr.  Bird  sixty-nine.  You 
may  get '  bottom '  out  of  such  venerable  steeds,  but  you  cannot 
expect  much  '  speed.'  I  am  feeling  somewhat  the  burdens  of 
this  year,  and  the  confusing  secularities  of  running  a  printing- 
house,  in  addition  to  my  preaching  and  teaching  duties  with  my 
voluminous  correspondence,  sometimes  make  my  head  swim.  I 
don't  think  I  could  carry  this  load  another  year.  We  must  have 
one  or  two  first-rate  young  men  in  training  to  take  our  places 
before  we  break  down," 

I  now  add  to  the  above,  sixteen  years  later,  that  Dr,  Van 
Dyck,  Dr.  Eddy,  Mr.  Bird  and  W,  K.  Eddy  have  gone  to  their 
reward.  Dr.  Dennis  and  Mr,  Watson  resigned,  a  loss  of  six  men, 
and  only  five,  Messrs,  Doohttle,  Erdman,  S,  D,  Jessup,  Nicol  and 
Brown,  have  come  in  their  place,  so  that  the  mission  is  numer- 
ically weaker  in  1909  than  in  1892,  and  I  am  seventy -six  and  a 
half,  and  my  brother  seventy-five  and  a  half. 

Dr,  R,  Anderson,  in  giving  his  consent  to  the  establishment 
of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College,  expressed  the  fear  that  its 
teaching  English  would  result  in  denationalizing  the  Syrians, 
making  them  restless,  and  unfitting  them  for  the  work  of  humble 
pastors  and  preachers  in  their  own  country.  He  instanced  the 
results  of  English  teaching  in  India  as  disastrous  to  the  training 
of  a  native  ministry. 

It  is  not  easy  now  to  say  what  would  have  been  the  effect  of 
making  English  the  language  of  instruction  in  the  college,  had 
all  things  remained  as  they  were.  But  the  discovery  of  America 
by  certain  Syrian  merchants  in  1876,  and  the  British  occupation 
of  Egypt  in  1882  put  a  new  phase  on  the  future  of  Syrian  youth. 
The  demand  for  English-speaking  and  English-trained  doctors, 
lawyers,  surveyors,  and  engineers,  clerks  and  accountants  in  the 
Anglo-Egyptian  military  and  civil  service,  tempted  the  best 
trained  youth  of  Syria  to  go  to  Egypt.  Then  the  opening  El 
Dorado  for  Syrian  dealers  in  Oriental  wares  and  fabrics  in  North 
and  South  America,  Mexico,  and  Australia  sent,  first,  hundreds 


Value  of  Teaching  in  English  589 

and  then  thousands  of  Syrians,  men,  women,  and  children,  to 
seek  their  fortune  beyond  the  seas.  Many  sent  back  thousands 
of  dollars,  and  the  rumour  of  their  success  spread  over  the  land. 
Then  steamer  agents  and  emigrant  agency  runners  visited  the 
towns  and  villages  and  sounded  the  praises  of  America,  Brazil 
and  Argentine,  etc.,  until  every  steamer  to  Naples  and  Marseilles 
went  crowded  with  hopeful  Syrians.  Was  the  teaching  in  the 
college  and  boys'  boarding-schools  responsible  for  this  phe- 
nomenal exodus  ?  The  answer  must  be  affirmative  with  regard 
to  Egypt.  The  Egyptian  and  Sudanese  governments  want 
bright,  intelligent  young  Syrians,  well  up  in  English,  and  with  a 
sound  moral  training,  and  this  class  largely  goes  to  Egypt.  But 
the  rank  and  file  of  the  tens  of  thousands  of  emigrants  know  no 
language  but  Arabic  and  literally  "  go  forth  not  knowing  whither 
they  are  going."  Not  a  few  college  men  are  in  the  United 
States,  but  I  was  surprised  on  examining  the  Syrian  Protestant 
College  catalogue  for  1906  to  find  that  only  fifty-eight  college 
graduates  are  now  in  the  United  States,  and  eighty-seven  in 
Egypt,  or  a  hundred  and  forty-five  in  all,  out  of  one  thousand 
three  hundred  and  eighty-seven  graduates  in  all  departments. 

It  is  perhaps  true  that  a  knowledge  of  English  has  increased 
the  number  of  emigrants,  but  their  number  is  small  as  compared 
with  the  whole  number  of  emigrants.  Professor  Lucius  Miller  of 
Princeton,  who  was  for  three  years  tutor  in  the  Beirut  College, 
spent  a  year  in  collecting  statistics  of  the  Syrian  Colony  in  New 
York  for  the  New  York  Federation  of  Churches,  and  he  found  the 
Protestant  Syrians  comprise  fewer  illiterate,  and  more  educated 
men  and  women  in  proportion  to  their  whole  number  than  those 
of  any  other  Syrian  sect  in  New  York. 

The  figures  are  as  follows  : 

Adle  to  read  arid  write  Arabic 
Protestant     .     .     .     60.1%  Maronite     .     .     .     39.4% 

Greek      ....     44.    %  Catholic     .     .     .     33.7%) 

Able  to  read  and  write  English 
Protestant     .     .     .     60.1%  Maronite    .     .     .     19.1% 

Greek      ....     25.8%  Catholic     .     .     .     13.1% 


590  Marking  Time 

This  ratio  would  hold  good  with  regard  to  the  Protestant  sect 
in  the  whole  Turkish  Empire  as  compared  with  other  sects.  It  is 
the  best  educated  of  all  the  sects  owing  chiefly  to  the  American 
schools.  The  priest-ridden  district  of  Maronite  Northern  Leb- 
anon stands  among  the  lowest.  The  Maronite  higher  clergy  and 
the  hordes  of  lazy  worthless  monks  have  gradually  seized  upon 
the  best  landed  property  and  roll  in  wealth  leaving  the  children 
and  youth  uneducated.  Of  late  years  a  few,  Hke  the  late  Arch- 
bishop Dibbs  of  Beirut,  have  opened  high  schools,  but  the  villages 
are  left  in  ignorance.  Emigration,  however,  is  beginning  to  break 
up  this  monotone  of  ignorance  and  illiteracy.  Many  of  the  emi- 
grants have  returned  with  liberal  ideas  and  will  not  submit  to 
priestly  tyranny  and  are  demanding  schools  under  American  and 
English  auspices.  The  next  twenty- five  years  will  see  a  great 
change  in  the  power  and  influence  of  this  proud  and  tyrannical 
hierarchy. 

During  this  year,  the  Protestant  missionaries  in  Constantinople 
drew  up,  signed,  and  forwarded  to  all  the  Protestant  ambassadors 
an  appeal  protesting  against  the  attempted  suppression  of  Bible 
sale  and  colportage  in  the  empire.  The  result  was,  after  long 
delay,  a  new  order  forbidding  interference  with  Bible  work. 

In  the  Haiti  Humayoiui  of  February,  1856,  it  is  said  that 
"  each  community  inhabiting  a  distinct  quarter  shall  have  equal 
power  to  repair  and  improve  its  churches,  hospitals,  schools,  and 
cemeteries.  The  Sublime  Porte  will  .  .  .  insure  to  each 
sect,  whatever  be  the  number  of  its  adherents,  entire  freedom  in 
the  exercise  of  its  religion."  Yet  there  is  constant  obstruction  of 
every  effort  to  build  churches  or  open  schools. 

The  Presbyterian  church  in  Plainfield  (New  Jersey),  Dr.  W.  R. 
Richards,  pastor,  sent  out  this  year  as  a  gift  to  the  mission  a  new 
"  Walter  Scott  "  printing  machine,  made  in  Plainfield,  and  it 
arrived  in  May.  On  reaching  the  custom-house,  the  appraisers 
valued  it  at  about  double  its  real  worth  and  I  insisted  that  if  they 
held   their  ground,  they  must  "  take  their  pay  in  kind."     They 


AMERICAN  PRESS 

Bindery. 

Machine  Room. 


Educational  Mission  Work  591 

then  summoned  several  proprietors  of  presses  in  the  city  to  aid 
in  the  appraisal  and  it  was  fixed  at  ;$8oo,  on  which  we  paid  eight 
per  cent,  duty,  or  $64.  We  had  also  to  pay  moderate  bucksheesh 
to  boatmen,  porters,  inspectors,  appraisers,  clerks,  scribes,  copy- 
ists, overseers,  doorkeepers,  and  watchmen  for  facilitating  the 
egress  of  the  machine.  It  was  set  up  by  means  of  a  winch  and 
tackle  blocks  by  Mr.  R.  Somerville.  This  machine  added 
greatly  to  the  efficiency  of  our  press,  and  is  a  memorial  of  the 
liberahty  of  the  Crescent  Avenue  Church. 

We  were  at  that  time  shipping  books  by  mule  and  donkey  to 
the  Lebanon  villages  and  the  cities  of  Syria  and  Palestine ;  by 
post  to  Hamadan,  Ispahan  and  Tabriz  in  Persia  ;  by  sea,  to  Con- 
stantinople, Mogador,  Tangier,  Algiers,  Tunis,  Egypt  and  Zanzi- 
bar. Egypt  was  and  is  still  our  best  customer.  We  send  also  to 
Aden  in  Arabia,  to  Bombay  and  other  parts  of  India,  and  to 
Bussorah  and  Bushire  on  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  also  to  Rio 
Janeiro,  San  Paolo  (Brazil),  and  to  New  York,  Chicago,  Toledo, 
Philadelphia,  Lawrence,  Mass.,  and  other  Syrian  colonies  in 
America.  In  concluding  my  letter  of  acknowledgment  to  the 
Plainfield  friends,  I  said,  "  The  labour  is  ours,  the  results  are 
God's.  It  is  a  privilege  to  preach  the  Gospel  and  to  print  and 
scatter  God's  Word  throughout  the  world.  May  the  Holy  Spirit 
attend  our  teaching  and  preaching  and  our  printing  with  His 
own  mighty  power  from  on  high.  The  Lord  raise  up  mission- 
aries from  your  church  in  Plainfield  and  send  them  forth  to  the 
whitening  harvest  field  !  I  can  testify  after  thirty-six  years  of 
service  in  Syria  that  the  missionary  work  is  a  blessed  work  indeed 
and  can  commend  it  to  your  young  Christians  as  a  happy  and 
glorious  work.  It  was  instituted  by  the  command  and  is  crowned 
with  the  promised  blessing  of  the  Son  of  God." 

In  September,  at  the  request  of  Dr.  Arthur  Pierson  of  the 
Missionajy  Review,  I  sent  him  an  article  on  Educational  Mis- 
sions, of  which  the  following  is  the  substance : 

We  have  given  much  of  time  and  strength  to  mission  schools 
but  not  to  the  detriment  and  neglect  of  other  departments  of  the 


592  Marking  Time 

work.  Schools  have  been  looked  upon  as  vital  to  missionary 
success,  and  yet  only  as  a  means  to  an  end,  not  as  the  end  itself. 
Schools  were  called  "  entering  wedges  "  and  such  they  really 
were,  introducing  the  Gospel  in  many  districts  where  otherwise, 
as  far  as  could  be  seen,  neither  Bible  nor  missionary  would  have 
been  allowed  to  enter. 

Education  is  only  a  means  to  an  end  in  Christian  missions,  and 
that  end  is  to  lead  men  to  Christ  and  teach  them  to  become 
Christian  peoples  and  nations.  When  it  goes  beyond  this  and 
claims  to  be  in  itself  an  end  ;  that  mere  intellectual  and  scientific 
eminence  are  objects  worthy  of  the  Christian  missionary,  that  it 
is  worth  while  for  consecrated  missionaries  and  missionary  so- 
cieties to  aim  to  have  the  best  astronomers,  geologists,  botanists, 
surgeons,  and  physicians  in  the  realm  for  the  sake  of  the  scien- 
tific prestige  and  the  world-wide  reputation ;  then  we  do  not 
hesitate  to  say  that  such  a  mission  has  stepped  out  of  the  Chris- 
tian and  missionary  sphere  into  one  purely  secular,  scientific,  and 
worldly.  Such  a  work  might  be  done  by  a  Heidelberg  or  a 
Cambridge,  a  Harvard  or  a  Sheffield,  but  not  by  a  missionary 
society  labouring  for  purely  spiritual  ends.  The  Syria  Mission 
has  had  wide  experience  in  the  matter  of  education.  The  mis- 
sionaries have  had  a  larger  proportion  of  literary  and  educational 
work  thrown  upon  them  than  is  common  in  Asiatic  and  African 
missions. 

The  Syrian  people  differ  from  the  "  Nature  "  tribes  of  Africa, 
and  the  settled  communities  of  Central  and  Eastern  Asia,  in 
having  been  engaged  for  centuries  in  the  conflict  between  the 
corrupt  forms  of  Christianity,  the  religion  of  Islam,  and  the  sects 
of  semi-Paganism.  There  being  no  political  parties  in  the 
empire,  the  inborn  love  of  political  dissent  finds  its  vent  in  the 
religious  sects.  A  man's  religion  is  his  politics,  that  is,  his  sect 
takes  the  place  occupied  in  other  countries  by  the  political  party. 
To  separate  any  Syrian  from  his  religious  sect  is  to  throw  him 
out  of  his  endeared  political  party  with  all  its  traditions  and 
prejudices. 

A  Christian  missionary  must  steer  clear  of  all  these  racial  and 


Effect  of  Schools  on  Evangelization  593 

sectarian  political  jealousies  and  try  to  teach  loyalty  to  the 
"  powers  that  be,"  the  common  brotherhood  of  man,  and  offer  to 
all  a  common  Saviour.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  indeed  omnipotent, 
and  can  make  men  of  these  hostile  sects  one  in  Christ  "  by  the 
word  of  His  power,"  just  as  He  can  place  a  Tammany  ward 
politician  side  by  side  with  a  negro  Republican  at  the  Lord's 
table. 

But  as  human  nature  is,  it  generally  requires  early  Christian 
training  to  break  down  these  ancient  sectarian  antipathies.  Men 
and  women  converted  in  adult  years  from  various  sects  find  it 
hard  to  forget  their  former  differences  and  on  slight  occasions  the 
old  political  lines  define  themselves  with  perilous  vividness.  It 
is  different  with  youths  of  different  sects  when  educated  together, 
and  the  brightest  examples  of  mutual  love  and  confidence  have 
been  found  among  the  young  men  and  women  trained  for  years 
together  in  Christian  schools. 

The  present  educational  work  of  the  Syria  Mission  has  been  a 
gradual  growth.  The  119  common  schools  were  as  a  rule 
located  in  places  where  previously  there  were  no  schools.  In  not 
a  few  cases  high  schools  have  been  opened  in  the  same  towns  by 
native  sects,  who,  as  experience  shows,  would  close  their  schools 
at  once  were  the  evangelical  schools  withdrawn. 

The  total  of  pupils  in  1891  was  7,117.  If  we  add  to  this  at 
least  an  equal  number  in  the  schools  of  other  Protestant  missions 
in  Syria  and  Palestine,  we  have  a  total  of  about  15,000  children 
under  evangelical  instruction  in  the  land. 

This  is  a  work  of  large  extent  and  influence,  and  it  is  of  the 
first  importance  to  know  whether  these  schools  are  helping  in  the 
work  of  evangelization.  To  aid  in  a  correct  estimate  on  this  point, 
we  should  remember  that : 

1.  The  Bible  is  a  text-book  in  all  of  them.  These  thousands 
of  children  are  taught  the  Old  and  New  Testaments, "  Line  upon 
Line,"  "  Life  of  St.  Paul,"  the  catechisms,  and  the  advanced 
pupils  the  "  Bible  Hand  Book,"  Scripture  history  and  geography. 
The  Bible  rests  at  the  foundation  of  them  all. 

2.  As  far  as  possible,  none  but  Christian  teachers,  communi- 


594  Marking  Time 

cants  in  the  churches,  are  employed  in  these  schools.  The  com- 
mon schools  are  thus  Bible  schools,  and  where  the  teachers  are 
truly  godly  men,  their  prayers  and  example  give  a  strong  relig- 
ious influence  to  their  teaching,  and  in  the  high  schools  daily 
religious  instruction  is  given  in  the  most  thorough  manner. 

3.  Sometimes  a  school  has  been  maintained  for  years  in  a  vil- 
lage without  any  apparent  spiritual  result,  either  among  the  chil- 
dren or  their  parents,  and  yet  there  are  numerous  instances  in 
which  the  school  has  been  the  means  of  the  establishment  of  a 
church  and  a  decided  religious  reformation. 

4.  The  mission  schools  in  Turkey  have  had  one  important 
effect  and  that  is  that  the  Protestant  community  has  for  its  size 
less  illiteracy  than  any  other  community  in  the  empire,  more 
readers  than  any  other,  and  is  in  consequence  more  intelligent. 

5.  In  the  towns  and  cities  where  the  high  schools  are  situate, 
the  majority  of  the  additions  to  the  churches  come  from  the  chil- 
dren and  the  youth  trained  in  the  schools. 

6.  It  is  the  unanimous  testimony  of  intelligent  natives  of  all 
sects  that  the  intellectual  awakening  of  modern  Syria  is  due,  in 
the  first  instance,  to  the  schools  of  the  American  missions.  They 
were  the  first  and  have  continued  for  over  sixty  years,  and  the 
most  of  the  institutions  now  in  existence  in  Syria,  native  and  for- 
eign, have  grown  out  of  them  or  have  been  directly  occasioned 
by  them. 

7.  If  the  question  be  raised,  as  to  the  comparative  cost  of 
educational  and  non-educational  missions,  it  is  doubtless  true  that 
the  educational  are  the  most  costly. 

The  Syrian  Protestant  College  is  an  endowed  institution  sepa- 
rate from  the  Board  of  Missions,  and  its  expensive  edifices,  which 
are  an  honour  to  American  Christianity  and  an  ornament  to  the 
city,  were  erected  without  cost  to  the  Board  of  Missions. 

Since  coming  under  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Missions  in 
1870,  the  mission  has  introduced  the  English  language  in  addi- 
tion to  the  Arabic  into  its  boys'  and  girls'  boarding-schools,  and 
many  of  its  day-schools.  The  English  and  Scotch  schools  all 
teach  the  English  language.     In  this  way  many  thousands  of 


Phenomenal  Emigration  595 

Syrian  youths  have  learned  English,  and  the  Romish  and  Greek 
schools  are  also  teaching  it  in  addition  to  French  and  Arabic. 

The  question  now  arises,  "  Cui  bono  ?  "  Has  twenty-five 
years'  experience  in  teaching  English  justified  the  hopes  and  ex- 
pectations of  the  American  missionaries?  We  reply  that  it  has, 
and  that  beyond  all  question.  The  limited  scope  of  Arabic 
literature,  though  greatly  extended  during  the  past  thirty  years 
by  the  Christian  Press,  makes  it  impossible  for  one  to  attain  a 
thorough  education  without  the  use  of  a  foreign  language. 

One  needs  but  to  turn  the  pages  of  the  catalogue  of  the  Syrian 
Protestant  College  and  of  the  Protestant  girls'  boarding-schools 
to  see  the  names  of  men  and  women  who  are  now  the  leaders  in 
every  good  and  elevating  enterprise,  authors,  editors,  physicians, 
preachers,  teachers,  and  business  men  who  owe  their  success  and 
influence  to  their  broad  and  thorough  education.  They  are  scat- 
tered throughout  Syria,  Palestine,  Egypt,  North  Africa,  and 
North  and  South  America. 

The  advocates  of  a  purely  vernacular  system  sometimes  point 
to  another  side  of  the  question  which  is  plain  to  every  candid 
observer,  namely,  that  the  English-speaking  youth  of  both  sexes 
are  leaving  the  country  and  emigrating  to  Egypt  and  America. 
This  is  true  and  to  such  an  extent  as  to  be  phenomenal.  The 
Christian  youth  of  Syria,  Protestant  and  Catholic,  Greek  and 
Armenian,  are  emigrating  by  thousands.  The  promised  land  is 
not  now  east  and  west  of  the  Jordan,  but  east  and  west  of  the 
Mississippi  and  the  Rio  de  la  Plata.  And  the  same  passion  for 
emigration  prevails  in  Asia  Minor,  Eastern  Turkey,  Mesopotamia. 
It  is  a  striking  if  not  a  startling  providential  fact.  The  Christian 
element  in  Turkey  is  seeking  a  freer  and  fairer  field  for  develop- 
ment. The  ruling  power  is  Moslem.  Its  motto  has  become 
"  This  is  a  Moslem  land  and  Moslems  must  rule  it." 

The  Chicago  Fair  fanned  the  emigration  fever  to  a  flame.  It 
has  taken  hold  of  all  classes,  and  farmers,  planters,  mechanics, 
merchants,  doctors,  teachers,  preachers,  young  men  and  women, 
boys  and  girls,  even  old  men  and  women,  are  setting  out  in 


596  Marking  Time 

crowds  for  the  El  Dorado  of  the  West.  A  company  of  plain 
peasants  will  pay  high  wages  for  an  English-speaking  boy  or  girl 
to  go  with  them  as  interpreter.  There  is  thus  a  premium  on  the 
English  language.  The  English  occupation  of  Egypt  and  Cyprus 
has  acted  in  the  same  direction  by  opening  new  avenues  of  em- 
ployment. 

On  the  other  hand  ignorance  of  English  does  not  deter  the 
people  from  emigrating.  It  is  a  deep-seated  popular  impulse, 
wide-spread  and  irresistible,  and  it  is  equally  strong  in  Eastern 
Turkey  where  httle  has  been  done  in  teaching  the  English  lan- 
guage. The  land  is  too  narrow  for  its  people,  at  least  under  the 
present  regime.    The  Moslems  cannot  getaway,and  few  have  gone. 

It  cannot  be  claimed  that  the  teaching  of  English  alone  has 
produced  this  great  movement,  for  the  masses  of  emigrants  do 
not  know  a  word  of  English.  The  reason  is  a  desire  to  better 
their  condition,  "  to  buy  and  sell  and  get  gain,"  and  in  some 
cases,  a  longing  to  live  under  a  Christian  government.  Whether 
the  Syrians,  like  the  Chinese,  will  return  to  their  own  land,  is  a 
problem  as  yet  unsolved. 

The  residence  of  Americans  here  for  sixty  years,  the  great 
numbers  of  American  tourists  who  yearly  pass  through  Syria  and 
Palestine,  the  teaching  of  geography  in  the  schools,  the  general 
spread  of  light,  the  news  published  in  the  Arabic  journals,  and  the 
increase  of  population  with  no  corresponding  openings  for  earn- 
ing a  living,  these  and  many  other  causes  have  now  culminated 
in  this  emigration  movement  which  is  sending  a  Semitic  wave 
across  seas  and  continents.  Let  us  hope  and  pray  that  those  who 
do  at  length  return  to  the  East  will  return  better  and  broader  and 
more  useful  men  and  women  than  if  they  had  never  left  their  na- 
tive land. 

It  must  be  that  there  is  a  divine  plan  and  meaning  in  it  all, 
and  that  the  result  will  be  great  moral  gain  to  Western  Asia  in 
the  future. 

The  suspension  of  the  mission  schools  in  Syria  would  be  a  dis- 
aster. These  thousands  of  children  would  be  left  untaught,  or  at 
least  deprived  of  Bible  instruction, 


A  New  Syria  597 

We  do  not  see  cause  for  modifying  our  system  of  Christian 
education.  Its  great  mission  is  yet  to  be  performed.  These 
schools  in  which  the  Bible  is  taught  are  doing  a  gradual,  leaven- 
ing work  among  thousands  who,  thus  far,  do  not  accept  the  Word 
of  God. 

There  will  yet  be  a  new  Phoenicia,  a  new  Syria,  better  cultiva- 
ted, better  governed,  with  a  wider  diffusion  of  Christian  truth,  a 
nobler  sphere  for  women,  happier  homes  for  the  people,  and  that 
contentment  which  grows  out  of  faith  in  God  and  man. 

The  schools  will  help  on  this  consummation.  The  press  will 
hasten  it.  The  Christian  pulpit  will  prepare  the  way  for  it.  The 
churches  and  congregations  now  existmg  and  yet  to  be  formed 
will  lay  the  foundations  for  it,  and  the  distribution  of  the  Bible 
will  confirm  it  and  make  it  enduring.  We  believe  in  Christian 
mission  schools.  With  all  the  drawbacks  in  expense  and  toil,  and 
at  times  the  semi-secularization  of  the  missionary  labourer,  they 
are  a  blessing  to  any  land.  They  let  in  the  light.  They  teach 
the  Bible  to  the  children.  They  conciliate  the  parents,  remove 
prejudice,  root  up  old  superstition,  brighten  and  cheer  the  hearts 
of  the  little  ones  and  the  houses  of  their  parents  and  lead  many  to 
a  true  knowledge  of  salvation  through  faith  in  Christ. 

They  are  a  means  to  an  end,  and  that  end  is  the  salvation  of 
souls  and  the  glory  of  God. 

1893 — The  chief  events  in  the  mission  in  1893  were  the  reso- 
lution recommending  the  founding  of  an  industrial  orphanage  in 
Sidon,  the  resignation  of  Miss  Rebecca  M.  Brown  from  the  Sidon 
Girls'  Seminary,  the  baptism  of  another  Mohammedan,  Andraus, 
the  arrival  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Doolittle  for  Sidon,  the  transfer  of 
Mrs.  Dale  to  Sidon  for  the  year,  and  the  arrival  in  Beirut  of  Dr. 
Mary  Pierson  Eddy  from  New  York  and  Constantinople,  having 
obtained,  November  22,  1893,  the  first  official  permit  granted  to  a 
woman  to  practice  medicine  in  the  Turkish  Empire  on  the  same  | 
terms  as  have  been  previously  granted  to  men  only.  The  learned  ; 
professors  in  the  Imperial  Medical  College  were  for  a  long  time 
incredulous  as  to  the  competency  of  a  woman  to  master  medical 


598  Marking  Time 

science,  but  when  they  finally  consented  to  give  her  a  medical 
examination  and  she  passed  triumphantly,  they  were  warm  in  their 
congratulations  and  gave  her  not  only  the  legal  diploma,  but  also 
letters  of  introduction  to  the  different  Turkish  authorities  in  Syria. 
She  has  attained  a  wide  reputation  and  her  hospital  clinics  at 
Maamiltein  and  her  itinerant  camps  are  crowded  with  patients. 

Among  the  prominent  visitors  to  Syria  this  year  were  ex- 
Secretary  of  State  John  W.  Foster  and  wife,  and  Dr.  F.  E.  Clark, 
founder  of  the  Christian  Endeavour  Society.  Both  of  these 
eminent  men  made  addresses  in  Beirut  full  of  Christian  wisdom 
and  earnestness. 

In  May  I  prepared  two  papers  for  the  World's  Congress  of  Re- 
ligions and  Missions  in  Chicago,  one  on  "  The  Rehgious  Mission 
of  the  English-speaking  Nations,"  and  the  other  on  "  Triumphs 
of  the  Gospel  in  the  Ottoman  Empire."  As  both  of  these  papers 
were  published  in  the  volume  of  Reports,  I  need  not  allude  to 
them  in  detail.     I  had  no  fear  of  ill  effects  from  that  congress. 

Two  tragic  events  occurred  during  the  year.  The  first  was  the 
sinking  of  the  splendid  British  battle-ship  Victoria  off  Tripoli  har- 
bour, June  22d,  by  collision  with  the  Camperdown,  in  which  375 
officers  and  men  lost  their  hves.  The  fleet  had  been  five  days 
off  Beirut,  and  Admiral  Sir  George  Tryon  and  his  officers  had 
been  entertained  in  a  garden  party  on  the  grounds  of  Colonel 
Trotter,  H.  B.  M.  consul-general.  The  admiral  was  most  affable. 
He  spoke  to  Dr.  Bliss  and  myself  of  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie's 
recent  plea  for  an  aUiance  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  nations.  We  re- 
marked to  him  that  on  the  recent  visit  of  the  French  fleet  the 
ships  went  to  Tripoli,  and  in  the  evening  as  a  cloud  hung  over 
Tripoli,  the  gleam  of  the  search-lights  could  be  seen  here  in 
Beirut  forty  miles  distant.  He  said,  "  On  Friday  evening  you 
will  see  the  search-lights  of  our  fleet  at  Tripoli."  Alas,  on  Fri- 
day evening  the  admiral  and  his  good  ship  and  375  men  were  at  the 
bottom  of  the  sea !     The  ships  left  Beirut  Friday  morning  in  two 


The  "  Camperdown  "-"  Victoria  "  Collision        599 

parallel  lines  far  apart.  They  kept  far  out  beyond  the  Tripoli 
islands  and  were  to  make  a  great  curve  around  to  the  north  and 
then  turn  inward  and  backward  and  deploy  on  another  parallel 
line  inside  the  double  line  of  sailing.  As  they  turned,  the  vice- 
admiral  signalled,  inquiring  if  they  were  not  too  near  to  make 
that  curve.  The  answer  of  the  admiral  was, "  Go  ahead  !  "  They 
went  ahead  and  as  they  turned  inward,  the  Camperdown  struck 
the  Victoria  back  of  the  starboard  bow,  crushing  in  the  solid 
armour  and  letting  in  the  sea  in  a  mighty  stream.  Rapid  signals 
were  interchanged,  and  there  was  for  a  moment  danger  that  the 
other  huge  floating  castles  would  collide,  but  they  were  managed 
with  marvellous  skill.  The  boats  were  lowered  and  hastened  to 
rescue  their  comrades  who  had  flung  themselves  into  the  sea. 
Then  as  the  Victoria  sank  bows  foremost,  the  engines  still  mov- 
ing and  the  screw  revolving  in  the  air,  there  was  a  fearful  explo- 
sion and  hundreds  of  men  were  sucked  down  to  the  depths  in 
eighty  fathoms  of  water.  Two  hundred  and  sixty-three  men 
were  rescued  and  375  were  lost. 

Dr.  Ira  Harris,  missionary  in  Tripoli,  was  on  the  shore  and 

saw  the    Victoria    disappear.     Dr.   M ,  a  Syrian    physician, 

a  graduate  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College,  saw  the  Victoria  go 
down  and  remarked  to  Dr.  Harris,  "  One  of  them  has  gone  down 
— it  is  one  of  those  submarines.  Watch  and  we  shall  see  it  come 
up  again."  Soon  after,  the  boats  came  ashore  and  officers  tele- 
graphed to  the  consul-general  in  Beirut  of  the  awful  disaster.  As 
they  sat  on  the  shore,  they  recited  the  full  details  of  the  dreadful 
event  and  Dr.  Harris  took  notes.  No  officer  was  allowed  to 
write  or  telegraph  to  the  British  public  the  details.  When  the 
cablegram  reached  England  of  the  bare  fact,  "  Victoria  sunk," 
and  thence  to  New  York,  the  New  York  World,  finding  that  Dr. 
Harris  was  their  only  subscriber  in  Syria,  cabled  him  to  telegraph 
them  full  details.  With  all  the  facts  now  in  his  possession  he  ob- 
tained the  use  of  the  telegraph  office  and  sent  off"  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  hundreds  of  words  as  he  had  heard  it  from  the  officers 
on  the  wharf.  That  telegram  was  printed  in  New  York,  repeated 
to  London,  and  published  by  the  New  York  World  in  London 


6oo  Marking  Time 

before  any  reliable  report  had  been  given  to  the  British  public. 
The  search  for  the  bodies  of  the  dead  men  was  long  and  thorough, 
on  the  spot,  and  on  the  adjacent  shores,  but  few  were  ever  found. 
Six  bodies  were  brought  ashore  and  buried  in  a  plot  given  by 
the  Sultan,  adjoining  the  American  Mission  cemetery.  Frag- 
ments of  furniture  floated  up  on  the  coast  of  Akkar  and  were  col- 
lected by  the  peasants.  Owing  to  the  great  depth,  no  divers 
could  be  employed,  and  that  colossal  steel  coffin  lies  on  the  bot- 
tom, never  to  be  touched  by  man,  safer  than  the  famous  porphyry 
sarcophagus  of  Ashmunazer,  Phoenician  King  of  Sidon,  who  in- 
scribed a  curse  upon  any  one  who  should  disturb  his  tomb,  and 
yet  that  tomb  is  now  in  the  Louvre  in  Paris.  The  reason  of  Ad- 
miral Tryon's  failing  to  heed  the  warning  signal  will  never  be 
known.  It  was  understood  that  he  said  to  the  officer  who  stood 
by  him  on  the  bridge,  when  he  saw  that  the  ships  were  colliding, 
"  I  only  am  to  blame,"  and  he  went  downj  holding  to  the  raiUng 
of  the  bridge. 

A  part  of  the  fleet  remained  on  the  coast  for  some  weeks. 
Ex-Admiral  Sir  George  Wellesley,  a  nephew  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  was  at  this  time  visiting  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Colonel 
Trotter,  and  accepted  the  invitation  of  his  old  subaltern  officer. 
Captain  Benham  of  the  Camperdow^i,  to  be  his  guest  on  this 
cruise  along  the  Syrian  coast.  He  was  on  the  deck  of  the  Canip- 
erdown  when  the  collision  occurred  and  saw  the  awful  scene  in 
all  its  heartrending  details.  He  returned  to  Beirut  on  a  despatch 
boat  the  next  day,  but  was  so  heart-broken  that  he  could  not 
speak.  After  four  days  I  called  upon  him  with  my  brother  Sam- 
uel, and  it  was  most  pathetic  to  witness  his  manly  grief  over  the 
loss  of  his  friend  Sir  George  Tryon  and  so  many  brave  men. 

Another  event  which  deeply  affected  the  Mohammedan  popu- 
lace, and  might  have  led  to  another  massacre,  was  the  burning  of 
the  famous  Mosque  of  Amweh  in  Damascus,  October  19th.  A 
Jewish  tinman  had  been  soldering  the  leaden  plates  on  the  roof 
and  left  his  hand  furnace  while  he  went  to  his  noon  meal.  A 
high  wind  sprang  up  which  fanned  the  fire  to  a  flame,  the  lead 


The  House  of  Rimmon  60 1 

melted,  the  boards  and  timbers  beneath  took  fire,  and  owing  to 
the  great  height  and  the  want  of  fire  engines,  the  whole  roof  was 
destroyed,  as  well  as  many  treasures  within  the  building.  At 
first  ill-disposed  persons  charged  it  on  the  Christians  and  a  panic 
fell  on  the  city.  But  the  pasha  published  the  facts  and  the  ex- 
citement subsided.  But  the  Arabic  and  Turkish  journals  were 
prohibited  from  alluding  to  it  in  any  way,  and  months  after,  when 
subscriptions  were  made  up  by  wealthy  Moslems,  the  mosque  was 
not  mentioned,  but  the  gifts  were  acknowledged  '•  for  the  sake 
of  religious  objects."  This  mosque  was  originally  the  "  House 
of  Rimmon,"  then  the  Cathedral  Church  of  St.  John  the  Baptist, 
then  half  of  it  was  made  into  a  mosque  by  Khalid,  the  "  Sword 
of  Mohammed  "  and  finally  the  whole  was  seized  by  Welid,  who 
himself  destroyed  the  altar. 

When  the  Sultan  decided  to  order  it  rebuilt,  the  Waly  of 
Damascus  telegraphed  the  Sultan  that  "  the  city  of  Damascus 
will  alone  rebuild  it."  This  produced  great  indignation,  as  the 
Damascenes  wished  it  rebuilt  in  magnificent  style  with  the  aid  of 
the  Sultan  himself.  In  December,  Mohammed  Said  Pasha,  man- 
ager of  the  Hajj  pilgrim  caravan,  subscribed  one  thousand  Turk- 
ish pounds,  Yusef  Pasha  three  hundred  and  fifty,  and  Beit  Odham 
seven  hundred  and  fifty.  Contributions  of  poplar  and  walnut 
timbers  were  made  by  the  villagers  and  brought  into  the  city 
with  music  and  shouts  of  joy.  Plans  were  decided  on,  and  quarry- 
men,  stone  carvers,  carpenters,  decorators,  and  gilders  employed, 
and  the  work  of  construction  was  carried  on  for  thirteen  years. 
Presents  of  costly  and  beautiful  rugs  of  great  size  were  sent  from 
all  parts  of  the  empire  and  Egypt.  To-day  the  work  is  about 
complete,  and  the  tomb  of  John  the  Baptist  in  the  midst  is  ele- 
gantly adorned. 

The  pilgrimage  to  Mecca  this  year  was  unprecedently  large 
owing  to  the  "  Wakfat,"  or  standing  on  Mount  Arafat,  coming 
on  Friday.  This  is  regarded  as  a  most  auspicious  concurrence, 
and  the  throng  was  immense.  Unfortunately  the  cholera  broke 
out  among  them  and  there  were  a  thousand  deaths  a  day.     A 


6o2  Marking  Time 

Beirut  sailor,  Hassan,  who  was  there,  told  me  that  as  the  proces- 
sion started  from  Mecca  out  to  Jebel  Arafat,  the  men  kept  drop- 
ping dead  by  the  way  and  the  bodies  were  left  in  the  field,  and 
on  reaching  the  place  of  sacrifice,  the  great  trenches,  dug  by  the 
Turkish  soldiers  for  burying  the  offal  of  the  tens  of  thousands  of 
slaughtered  sheep,  were  filled  with  the  bodies  of  dead  pilgrims. 
Hassan  said  he  felt  no  fear  at  the  time  but  the  sight  was  horrible. 
All  good  Moslems  regard  it  as  a  special  blessing  to  be  able  to  die 
in  the  Holy  City  of  Mecca  or  near  it. 

Just  at  this  time  Mohammed  Webb  was  parading  his  new- 
fledged  Islamism  in  the  Chicago  World's  Congress.  He  stated 
that  "  Woman  under  Islam  is  the  mistress  of  the  home."  The 
Interior  asked  him,  "Which  one  of  her?  As  she  is  in  the 
plural  number,  anywhere  from  two  to  twenty  ?  Will  Mr.  Webb 
tell  us  which  one  of  the  twenty  is  mistress  ?  " 

I  sent  to  Sir  William  Muir  a  second  Arabic  manuscript  by  the 
author  of  the  "  Bakurat,"  called  "  Minar  ul  Hoc,"  which  Dr.  Van 
Dyck  pronounced  superior  in  argument  even  to  the  "  Bakurat." 
Sir  William  was  greatly  impressed  by  it,  and  after  numerous 
letters  had  been  interchanged  by  us,  he  obtained  its  publication 
in  Arabic  and  also  a  clear  translation  of  it  into  English,  to  which 
he  wrote  a  preface,  in  which  he  says,  "  I  am  unhesitatingly  of 
opinion  that,  taken  as  a  whole,  no  apology  of  the  Christian  faith, 
carrying  similar  weight  and  urgency,  has  ever  been  addressed  to 
the  Mohammedan  world,  and  I  look  upon  it  as  the  duty  of  the 
Church,  should  this  opinion  be  concurred  in,  to  take  measures 
for  the  translation  of  ♦  Minar  ul  Hoc  '  into  the  vernacular  of 
every  land  inhabited  by  those  professing  the  Moslem  faith,  and  to 
see  that  all  missionaries  in  these  lands  have  the  means  of  becom- 
ing familiar  with  its  contents." 

In  November,  1893,  Rev.  J.  Phillips  of  Damascus  was  return- 
ing from  Ireland  to  Syria,  and  had  in  his  baggage  a  number  of 
maps.     They  were  nearly  all  confiscated.     A  large  valuable  map 


Serious  Losses  by  Death  603 

of  Europe  happened  to  have  on  the  east  end  a  strip  of  Asia  with 
the  word  "  Armenia."  For  that  ill-omened  word  the  map  was 
confiscated.  A  map  of  "  Palestine  under  the  kingdoms  of  Judah 
and  Israel "  was  destroyed,  as  "  the  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid  cannot 
acknowledge  any  kingdoms  of  Judah  and  Israel  in  his  empire." 
Mr.  Phillips  remarked  that  this  referred  to  a  period  many  centu- 
ries before  Christ.  The  triumphant  reply  was,  "  But  this  map 
was  not  made  then.  Judah  and  Israel  did  not  know  how  to 
make  maps."  That  is,  all  ancient  maps  showing  the  historic 
empire  of  the  past  are  to  be  suppressed  as  dangerous  to  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  Ottoman  Empire. 

Really  the  Sultan  ought  to  know  what  a  set  of  ignorant  blun- 
derers are  appointed  censors  over  the  literature  of  his  realm. 
There  are  intelligent,  educated  young  men  enough  to  fill  honour- 
ably this  office,  but  they  are  not  generally  worth  enough  to  buy 
official  position. 

The  death  of  Rev.  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell,  secretary  of  our  Board 
of  Missions,  was  to  me  a  personal  affliction.  He  was  not  only 
an  accomplished  scholar,  of  great  literary  ability  and  a  powerful 
pen,  but  personally  of  winning  and  attractive  sweetness  of  char- 
acter. He  had  strong  faith  and  a  tender,  sympathetic  nature.  I 
shall  never  forget  his  address  at  a  public  meeting  in  Beirut,  de- 
scribing his  feelings  as  he  sailed  up  the  great  rivers  of  China  at 
night.  The  steamer  passed  city  after  city  of  20,000,  50,000, 
100,000,  and  so  on,  and  he  asked  how  many  missionaries  were 
here  and  there  ?  None,  none,  none,  was  the  awful  reply — no  light 
here — all  heathen  darkness  !  and  he  said  that  such  a  feeling  of 
awe  and  horror  and  sorrow  came  over  him  in  thinking  of  Christ's 
command  and  of  His  Church's  neglect  and  the  blackness  of 
darkness  resting  like  a  pall  on  these  millions,  that  he  was  quite 
overcome. 

The  most  notable  events  in  the  history  of  the  Syria  Mission 
in  1894  were  the  deaths  of  two  octogenarian  members  of  the 
mission,  Rev.  WilHam  M.  Thomson,  D.  D.,  aged  eighty-nine,  who 


6o4  Marking  Time 

died  at  the  house  of  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Walker,  in  Denver,  Colo- 
rado, April  8th ;  and  Mr.  George  C.  Hurter,  for  twenty  years 
(from  1 84 1  to  1 861)  printer  for  the  American  Mission  Press, 
who  died  in  Hyde  Park,  Mass.,  December  29th,  aged  eighty 
years.  Of  Dr.  Thomson's  hfe-work,  full  account  has  been  given 
in  a  previous  chapter. 

Mr.  Hurter  was  born  in  Malta,  May  10,  181 3,  his  father  being 
Swiss  and  his  mother  a  native  of  England.  He  worked  first  in 
Corfu  on  a  Greek  and  Latin  lexicon.  Then  he  lived  in  Leghorn 
and  Marseilles  and  went  to  the  United  States  in  1838,  where,  in 
Xenia,  Ohio,  he  printed  a  newspaper  for  two  years.  In  1839  he 
married  Miss  Elizabeth  Grozier  of  Roxbury,  and  in  1841  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  to  the  mission  press  in  Syria. 
Returning  to  America  in  1861  for  family  reasons,  he  laboured  at 
his  trade  and  did  business  with  Beirut,  being  the  first  to  intro- 
duce petroleum  oil  and  lamps  into  Syria.  He  was  a  man  of 
simple,  childlike  faith,  a  lover  of  prayer,  and  a  student  of  God's 
Word.  His  pressmen  in  Beirut  loved  him.  His  hfe  was  pure 
and  blameless.  His  pastor,  Rev.  Mr.  Davis,  of  Hyde  Park,  said 
at  his  funeral,  "  He  was  for  twenty  years  my  parishioner,  and  I 
loved  and  admired  him  exceedingly.  I  think  he  came  the  near- 
est to  being  a  perfect  man  of  any  that  I  have  ever  known."  He 
celebrated  his  golden  wedding  in  1889  and  survived  his  wife  by 
one  year. 

On  being  presented  with  an  encyclopedia  a  year  before  his 
death,  he  was  asked  what  part  of  it  he  would  enjoy  the  most, 
and  his  characteristic  reply  was,  "  Finding  the  typographical 
mistakes." 

Would  that  all  lay  missionaries  had  his  patience,  gentleness, 
fidelity,  perseverence,  and  brotherly  kindness.  His  prayers  were 
most  touching  and  edifying.  Men  like  Dr.  EH  Smith  and 
Dr.  Thomson,  and  some  of  us  lesser  lights  as  well,  always  en- 
joyed a  prayer-meeting  led  by  Mr.  Hurter. 

This  year  the  theological  class  was  again  opened  in  Mount 
Lebanon,  this  time  at  Suk  el  Gharb,  May  i6th,  as  a  summer 


A  Much  Needed  Furlough  605 

school.  The  instructors  were  Dr.  W.  W.  Eddy,  Dr.  Samuel 
Jessup,  Mr.  Hardin,  and  Mr.  B.  Barudi.  This  plan  continued 
with  intervals  until  1905,  when  it  was  resumed  in  the  newly 
purchased  Misk  house  adjoining  the  church  in  Beirut, 

In  February  of  this  year,  another  professed  convert  from 
Islam  to  Christianity  came  to  Beirut.  His  name  is  Ibrahim 
Effendi  from  Bagdad — a  man  about  thirty-five  years  of  age,  of 
scholarly  bearing,  refined  and  courteous.  He  said  he  was  the 
brother  of  the  wife  of  Abbas  Effendi,  the  new  Babi  religious 
head,  who  last  year  succeeded  Beha  Allah  in  Acre.  Threatened 
three  years  ago  in  Bagdad  because  he  would  not  become  a  Babi, 
he  fled  to  Deir  on  the  Euphrates  and  practiced  pharmacy,  and 
from  there  came  to  Beirut.  He  was  looking  for  a  place  where 
he  could  work  for  Moslems  without  restriction  from  the  govern- 
ment. I  wrote  to  Mr.  Zwemer  at  Bahrein  about  him,  and  on 
reaching  Alexandria,  April  28th,  I  found  him  there  an  attendant 
on  the  religious  services  of  Rev.  Dr.  Ewing. 

I  left  Syria  on  furlough  with  Mrs.  Jessup  and  my  daughters, 
Anna  and  Amy,  April  25th,  for  needed  rest,  or  rather  for  a 
change  of  work  in  the  intense  life  of  America.  We  arrived  in 
New  York  May  28th,  and  by  December  31st  I  had  delivered 
seventy-four  addresses  and  sermons  and  had  travelled  many  hun- 
dreds of  miles,  from  Boston  to  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

As  in  previous  visits  to  America,  the  most  refreshing  and  com- 
forting feature  of  that  year  was  revisiting  my  childhood's  home, 
meeting  brothers  and  sisters  and  their  children,  walking  with 
brother  William,  the  judge,  over  the  old  farm,  seeing  the  stock, 
gathering  blackberries  and  raspberries  in  the  "  clearings,"  fishing 
in  the  old  trout  brooks,  and  in  Jones  Lake,  Heart  Lake,  and 
Silver  Lake ;  entering  the  old  church  and  seeing  the  new  gener- 
ation of  rosy,  bright  children  in  the  Sunday-school,  meeting  the 
elders  and  deacons,  a  very  few  of  whom  I  knew  way  back  in 
1855  and  of  whom  I  had  read  in  the  village  paper  all  these  years ; 
attending  the  County  Agricultural  Fair,  and  addressing  the  farmers 


6o6  Marking  Time 

in  the  grove  ;  meeting  on  the  street  men  and  women  whose  faces 
and  names  had  long  been  familiar  ;  and  breathing  the  clear,  fresh 
air  of  that  beautiful  village,  my  native  place,  Montrose,  with  its 
broad  streets,  shaded  by  maple  trees  and  its  village  green  and 
lawns,  with  its  wide  view  over  the  forest  clad  hills  of  Susquehanna 
County ;  the  very  thought  of  these,  as  I  write  among  the  oaks 
and  olive  trees  and  vine-clad  terraces  of  Mount  Lebanon,  brings 
joy  and  comfort  to  my  heart  of  hearts. 

During  the  latter  months  of  1894  and  the  early  part  of  1895, 
I  found  myself  beset  with  letters,  interviews,  and  questions,  re- 
quests for  lectures  and  addresses  on  the  Armenian  question,  which 
at  that  time  was  exciting  the  whole  civilized  world.  I  found  it 
necessary  to  be  "  wise  as  a  serpent  "  that  I  might  be  "  harmless 
as  a  dove."  Having  lived  thirty-eight  years  (at  that  time)  in  the 
Turkish  Empire,  and  expecting  to  return,  it  would  not  have  been 
wise  of  me,  as  one  of  a  body  of  some  two  hundred  and  fifty 
American  missionaries,  to  tell  all  I  knew  or  express  all  I  felt  with 
regard  to  those  infamous  massacres.  I  had  no  patience  with 
Armenian  revolutionists,  who,  at  a  safe  distance,  were  stirring  up 
their  coreligionists  in  the  interior  of  a  Moslem  Empire  to  revolt. 
It  was  on  the  face  of  it  a  hopeless  and  cruel  policy.  Were  the 
Armenians  all  concentrated  in  one  province,  with  one  language 
and  religion,  they  might  reasonably  have  appealed  to  Europe  to 
give  them  equal  privileges  with  Bulgaria,  under  the  suzerainty  of 
the  Sultan.  But  they  are  scattered  over  an  immense  territory, 
intermingled  with  an  overwhelming  majority  of  Moslems,  so  that 
a  general  uprising  was  only  a  signal  for  punishment  by  the  gov- 
ernment. But  on  the  other  hand,  nothing  can  justify  any  gov- 
ernment on  earth  in  punishing  a  handful  of  revolutionists  by  a 
wholesale  massacre  of  men,  women,  and  children.  No  civilized 
government  could  do  it,  or  would  do  it.  The  real  rebels  could 
have  been  arrested  and  punished  with  ease,  without  annihilating 
the  whole  population. 

I  found  it  difficult  therefore  to  speak  on  the  subject  and  was 
careful  to  avoid  the  ubiquitous  newspaper  interviewers.    Alas  for 


The  Armenian  Massacres  607 

the  unwary,  who  fall  into  their  snares,  especially  if  the  one  vis- 
iting you  be  a  cultivated  lady.  What  can  you  do  ?  If  you 
turn  your  back  and  refuse  to  speak,  they  will  invent  an  interview 
and  saddle  upon  you  utterances  which  when  in  print  make  your 
hair  stand  on  end. 

One  interviewer  made  me  say  that  there  were  three  millions  of 
Moslem  converts  to  Christianity  in  Syria.  Others  have  fathered 
upon  me  statements  which  must  have  led  the  public  to  regard 
me  as  recently  escaped  from  a  lunatic  asylum.  Much  as  we 
writhe  under  the  inane  censorship  of  the  press  in  Syria,  I  felt 
when  in  America,  on  reading  the  curious  and  inexplicable  blun- 
ders made  in  reports  of  my  own  language,  that  a  moderate  cen- 
sorship of  the  unbridled  statements  of  the  reporters  would  not  be 
an  unmixed  evil. 

When  in  Chicago,  October  22,  1894,  Dr.  Hillis  kindly  invited 
me  to  attend  the  ministers'  meeting  in  Association  Hall.  They 
begged  me  to  speak  on  the  Armenian  question.  I  consented  on 
condition  that  no  report  of  my  remarks  be  published  without 
being  first  submitted  to  me  for  correction.  Mr.  Ford,  of  the 
Chicago  News,  was  the  reporter,  and  agreed  to  write  out  the 
remarks  verbatim  and  bring  them  to  me.  He  met  me  at  the 
"  Big  Four  "  railroad  station  the  next  morning  as  I  was  leaving 
with  Mrs.  Jessup  for  Indianapolis  and  handed  me  the  report.  It 
was  admirably  done,  and  after  making  a  few  corrections  in  proper 
names  and  figures,  I  returned  it  to  him.  Some  of  the  Armenians 
in  New  York  afterwards  called  on  me  and  objected  to  my  allu- 
sions to  the  "  Revolutionary  Committee "  which  was  working 
from  Russian  soil  to  inflame  the  minds  of  the  Armenian  peas- 
antry in  Turkey.  I  replied  that  the  wisest  thing  the  Armenians 
in  America  could  do  was  to  dissuade  those  misguided  Armenians 
in  Russia  from  occasioning  disaster  and  ruin  to  the  poor  Ar- 
menians in  Turkey. 

The  working  force  in  Syria  was  weakened  this  year  by  the 
departure  of  Miss  M.  C.  Holmes,  on  account  of  the  feeble  health 
of  her  mother,  and  of  Miss  Mary  T.  M.  Ford,  another  faithful 


6o8  Marking  Time 

labourer.  Both  of  them  are  now  (1909)  on  the  field  again 
though  doing  work  independent  of  our  mission — excellent  work 
which  needs  no  praise  from  me.  Miss  Holmes  has  a  school  in 
Jebail  half-way  between  Beirut  and  Tripoli,  a  town  never  before 
occupied  by  a  missionary,  and  Miss  Ford  is  doing  brave  pioneer 
work  among  the  neglected  tribes  of  Upper  Galilee  and  the 
Hauran. 

Among  the  returning  missionaries  after  absence  in  America 
were  Dr.  George  A.  Ford  and  his  mother.  Miss  E.  Thomson  and 
Prof.  A.  Day,  Miss  C.  H.  Brown  and  Mrs.  Dr.  George  E.  Post. 

In  the  fall,  I  stopped  one  day  on  I2th  Street  near  Broadway, 
where  men  were  blasting  for  a  foundation  and  had  thrown  out 
beautiful  glistening  slabs  of  mica  slate.  Having  made  friends 
with  a  good-natured  labourer,  I  made  several  trips  to  the  mission 
house  on  the  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  12th  Street,  carrying 
fineTspecimens  of  this  rock  which  I  packed  in  a  box  and  shipped 
to  the  museum  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  in  Beirut.  My 
father  used  to  say  in  my  youthful  days  that  I  had  the  "  stone 
fever."     I  have  it  still. 

September  19th  I  preached  in  Binghamton  the  ordination  ser- 
mon of  our  nephew,  Rev,  Wm.  J.  Leverett,  under  appointment 
as  missionary  to  Hainan,  China. 

During  the  fall  I  was  searching  the  country  over  to  find  a 
Christian  layman  to  become  secular  agent  for  the  Syria  Mission. 
For  years,  since  1861,  the  management  of  the  press,  the  financial, 
custom-house,  post-office,  and  shipping  business  had  been  done 
by  us  ordained  missionaries,  and  the  mission  decided  that  it  was 
high  time  to  call  in  some  deacon  to  "  serve  tables  "  and  let  us 
devote  ourselves  to  the  "  ministry  of  the  Word."  Before  the  end 
of  the  year,  we  had  found  Mr.  E.  G.  Freyer,  who  had  been  for 
nine  years  in  the  United  States  Navy  on  the  China  station  and 
now  desired  to  enter  upon  Christian  business  work  in  some  foreign 
mission.  When  in  Washington,  December  6th,  I  received  from 
Lieutenant  Ranney  of  the  United  States  Navy  a  warm  testimonial 


Resting  by  Rail  609 

to  the  character  and  ability  of  Mr.  Freyer,  and  he  was  appointed 
lay  missionary,  sailing  in  the  winter  for  Beirut. 

1895 — The  six  months  of  my  stay  in  America  from  January  to 
July  were  filled  with  intense  activity.  When  not  prostrated  with 
grippe,  I  was  travelling  incessantly.  I  was  authorized  by  the  Board 
to  raise  ^8,000  for  the  Sidon  Industrial  School,  and  secured  it  all; 
lectured  before  the  Quill  Club  in  New  York  on  the  World's  Peace  ; 
before  Union  College  ;  at  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  New  York ; 
at  First  Church,  New  York,  for  a  collection  for  home  missions ; 
prepared  a  memorial  to  President  Cleveland  asking  that  the  Hon. 
Oscar  Straus  be  sent  as  a  special  commissioner  to  Constantinople 
to  negotiate  a  naturalization  treaty ;  before  the  alumni  of  Union 
Seminary  at  the  St.  Denis,  on  the  crisis  in  Turkey  ;  and  before  the 
students  and  faculty  of  Union  Seminary.  In  New  York  I  re- 
ceived a  call  from  Mr.  Reugh,  a  zealous  young  student  of  Union 
Seminary  who  was  impatient  to  go  to  East  Africa  as  a  pioneer 
missionary  before  completing  his  course.  He  knew  nothing  of 
the  climate  or  the  country,  did  not  know  to  what  port  he  should  sail. 
He  said  he  had  no  support  but  should  go  on  faith.  I  warned 
him  by  the  experience  of  several  persons  I  had  known  and 
begged  him  if  he  should  go,  to  go  first  to  Cairo  and  study  the 
Arabic  language  and  take  advice  of  Drs.  Watson  and  Harvey  as 
to  his  field.  But  he  did  not  need  nor  heed  advice.  I  told  him  of 
the  seven  young  men  and  the  seven  young  women  who  went  as  a 
"  Band  "  to  Japan  without  money  or  hardly  a  change  of  cloth- 
ing, and  found  themselves  soon  in  a  starving  condition  and  had 
to  be  taken  care  of  by  the  missionaries  and  residents.  They  had 
been  misled  by  some  ignorant  enthusiast  and  came  to  grief.  But 
Mr.  Reugh  would  not  be  advised.  He  went  to  East  Africa  and 
died  May  23,  1896. 

I  also  spoke  at  Elmira  College  ;  several  times  at  the  Inter 
Seminary  Missionary  Alliance  at  Colgate  University,  New  York, 
when  we  were  literally  snowed  under  and  one  delegation  was 
snowbound  in  Delaware  county  and  prevented  from  coming  to 
the   meeting ;  at  Pittsburg  in  the  church  of  Dr.   Holmes ;  at 


6io  Marking  Time 

Wooster  University.  At  Lakewood  I  met  the  beloved  Mrs.  Dr. 
De  Forest  who  had  taught  the  first  girls'  boarding-school  in 
Syria  from  1843  to  1853.  At  Washington,  by  invitation  of  Mr. 
Everett  Hayden,  I  lectured  on  the  Turkish  Empire  before  the 
American  Geographical  Society  in  Columbian  University.  I  at- 
tended Lackawanna  Presbytery ;  then  addressed  a  women's  meet' 
ing  in  the  Missionary  House,  Boston ;  called  on  the  beloved  Dr. 
N.  G.  Clark,  retired  from  active  service  by  ill  health  ;  visited  the 
Arabic  library  of  Harvard  University  with  my  friend  and  corre- 
spondent, Mr.  John  Orne;  met  on  the  train  the  venerable  Dr. 
A.  C.  Thompson  of  Roxbury  who  was  at  our  farewell  meeting 
December  11,  1855,  and  found  him  to  be  en  route  to  lecture  on 
missions  before  the  Hartford  Theological  Seminary ;  then  gave 
the  annual  address  before  the  students  and  alumni  of  Auburn 
Theological  Seminary,  and  renewed  my  acquaintance,  alas,  for 
the  last  time,  with  that  gifted  Christian  scholar  and  gentleman, 
Dr.  Henry  M.  Booth  ;  then  to  the  church  of  Dr.  Frank  Hodge  at 
Wilkesbarre  ;  to  the  General  Assembly  at  Pittsburg  with  Mrs. 
Jessup  and  my  brother  William.  We  were  the  guests  of  one  of 
the  Lord's  noblemen.  Dr.  Cyrus  W.  King  of  Allegheny.  By  in- 
vitation of  Dr.  Holland,  we  visited  the  university  and  met  Mr.  Bras- 
hear,  the  noted  maker  of  astronomical  instruments.  He  showed  us 
in  his  workshop  a  row  of  glass  lenses  of  all  sizes  from  three  inches 
in  diameter  to  one  foot,  and  told  us  that  the  molecular  structure 
of  the  glass  is  so  peculiar  that  sometimes  a  vibration  in  the  air  or 
in  the  building  will  cause  a  lens  to  explode  and  fly  into  a  thou- 
sand fragments.  He  constructed  the  spectroscope  and  the  visual 
and  photographic  object  glasses  attached  to  the  twelve  inch  re- 
fracting telescope  in  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  in  Beirut. 
One  day  I  went  as  a  member  of  the  delegation  to  salute  the 
United  Presbyterian  Assembly  in  East  Liberty.  General  Beaver  ■ 
was  chairman,  and  the  committee  were  my  classmate  Wm.  W. 
Cleveland,  brother  of  President  Cleveland,  Dr.  Howard  Agnew 
Johnston,  Judge  Hibbard,  and  Mr.  Landon.  We  were  astonished 
at  the  splendour  of  that  beautiful  edifice,  the  gift  of  one  of  the 
Pittsburg   magnates.     Thinking  of  the  past  of  the  old  Scotch 


The  Clifton  Springs  Conference  6ll 

Covenanters,  I  told  the  audience  that  I  almost  anticipated  finding 
them  huddled  in  a  cave  through  fear  of  persecution,  but  when  I 
looked  up  at  that  marvellous  roof,  the  superb  organ,  and  the 
matchless  hues  of  the  stained  glass  windows,  it  seemed  as  if  I  had 
suddenly  been  ushered  into  heaven  !  General  Beaver  asked  the 
moderator  about  a  dozen  questions  from  the  Shorter  Catechism, 
answering  them  himself  and  saying  after  each  one,  "  Mr. 
Moderator,  do  you  believe  that  ? "  He  answered,  "  Yes." 
"  And  that  ?  and  that  ? — Why  then  we  believe  alike,  we  are  one 
in  faith,  why  not  be  one  in  fact  ?  " 

On  Sunday  I  preached  to  the  Syrians  in  the  Italian  quarter  in 
Pittsburg. 

In  June  I  attended  the  International  Missionary  Conference  of 
Foreign  Missionaries  at  Clifton,  a  meeting  of  spiritual  uplifting 
and  fraternal  communion.  Ever  blessed  be  the  memory  of  Dr. 
poster  and  his  wife  who  founded  this  conference  and  whose  free 
hospitality  makes  it  possible  from  year  to  year.  After  hasty 
visits  to  the  old  Montrose  home,  to  the  hospitable  home  of  the 
venerable  Wm.  A.  Booth,  and  to  the  charming  mansion  of  Mrs. 
Elbert  B.  Monroe  at  Tarrytown,  we  sailed,  Mrs.  Jessup,  my 
daughters,  Anna  and  Amy,  my  niece,  Fanny  M.  Jessup,  and  I, 
once  more  for  our  Syrian  home,  on  July  20th,  reaching  Beirut 
August  1 2th,  twenty-three  days  from  New  York. 

In  the  opening  of  this  year  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Harris  and  children 
returned  from  America  to  Syria.  Mr.  E.  G.  Freyer  arrived 
February  nth  and  soon  took  up  the  work  of  manager  of  the 
press  and  treasurer  of  the  mission,  and  on  December  3d  was 
married  in  Cairo  to  Miss  S.  A.  French,  formerly  a  teacher  for  the 
Methodist  Board  in  Japan. 

Miss  Everett  was  obliged  to  resign  from  the  work  in  Beirut 
Seminary  and  left  for  America  June  25th. 

We  arrived  August  17th,  and  in  four  days  I  resumed  instruc- 
tion in  the  theological  seminary  in  Suk  el  Gharb,  thus  relieving 
my  brother  who   had   been  teaching  during  my  absence.     In 


6i2  Marking  Time 

October  his  daughter  Fanny  went  to  Tripoli  to  assist  Miss  La 
Grange  in  the  girls'  seminary. 

On  Saturday,  October  I2th,  Mr.  John  R.  Mott  and  Mrs.  Mott 
with  Mrs.  Livingston  Taylor  reached  Beirut.  As  the  college 
term  had  just  begun,  Mr.  Mott  was  asked  to  address  the  students, 
which  he  did  morning  and  evening,  speaking  on  "  Bible  study  for 
personal  growth."  I  took  copious  notes,  then  translated  both 
addresses  into  Arabic,  and  published  them  in  our  weekly  Neshrah 
journal. 

On  Monday,  October  14th,  we  rose  early  to  take  the  seven 
o'clock  train  as  they  were  going  to  Damascus  and  I  to  Aleih. 
It  was  a  bright,  clear  morning.  The  whole  eastern  horizon  over 
the  range  of  Lebanon  was  cloudless  in  a  glow  with  the  rising 
sun.  To  the  west  and  southwest  the  sea  horizon  was  a  clear-cut 
line  of  blue.  But  on  the  northwest  was  a  mountainous  pyramid 
of  cumulous  clouds,  the  blackness  of  darkness  at  the  base,  but  on 
the  top  tinged  with  purple  and  gold.  A  deep  calm  rested  on 
the  sea.  I  called  the  attention  of  Dr.  Bliss,  at  whose  house  I 
had  been  staying,  to  this  extraordinary  isolated  cloud  which 
loomed  like  an  island  of  amethyst.  At  its  base  it  grew  blacker 
and  blacker,  and  as  we  drove  the  mile  to  the  railroad  station,  it 
seemed  to  be  moving  towards  Beirut.  As  the  train  began  the 
slow  ascent  over  the  cogged  railway  up  the  mountain,  we  could 
see  the  scouts  of  the  moving  column  approaching  Beirut,  and 
farther  up  at  Jumhur,  we  saw  the  lofty  summit  of  Lebanon 
covered  with  scurrying  masses  of  black  cloud  through  which  the 
lightning  flashed,  while  deep  thunders  rolled  through  the  moun- 
tain gorges  and  reverberated  from  the  cliffs.  We  had  hardly 
reached  my  door  in  Aleih  when  the  cloud  burst  upon  us. 
Lebanon  was  flooded,  and  the  mountain  torrents  swollen.  Five 
inches  of  rain  fell  in  Beirut  within  two  hours.  There  is  no 
proper  sewerage  and  the  water  rolled  in  rivers  through  the 
streets.  The  filth  from  cesspools  which  is  usually  cleared  out  in 
August  and  spread  over  the  ground  among  the  houses,  polluting 
the  air,  was  now  washed  into  the  streets  and  spread  over  the 
highways,  when  suddenly  the  cloud  monster  passed  and  disap- 


The  Typhoid  After  the  Cloudburst  613 

peared,  leaving  the  streets  coated  over  with  this  fever-breeding 
slime.  And  to  make  the  peril  complete,  from  that  time  for  two 
weeks  the  sky  was  as  brass  and  the  heat  intense.  All  this  filth 
was  dried  and  pulverized,  and  driving  hot  north  winds  blew  the 
fine  dust  in  clouds  into  the  houses,  over  the  meat,  vegetables, 
and  bread  in  the  markets  and  into  the  throats  of  the  people. 
Within  a  month  there  were  between  seven  hundred  and  a  thou- 
sand cases  of  typhoid  fever  and  it  was  estimated  that  at  least 
three  hundred  of  the  children  and  youth  of  the  city  died.  Some 
estimated  it  still  higher.  Various  theories  were  put  forth  to  ex- 
plain it.  One  was  that  the  discharges  from  typhoid  patients  in  a 
Lebanon  village  above  the  aqueduct  had  been  washed  down  by 
the  cloudburst  and  thus  infected  the  city  water,  but  in  that  case 
the  whole  city  would  have  suffered,  whereas,  the  most  numerous 
and  worst  cases  were  along  the  line  of  the  streets  and  highways 
which  received  the  wash  of  the  surface  drainage.  Others 
ascribed  it  to  the  fact  that  the  vegetables  raised  in  the  truck 
gardens  were  washed  by  the  gardeners  in  pools  of  foul  water, 
and  thus  the  lettuce,  radishes,  and  cabbages  carried  the  infection 
among  the  population. 

It  was  a  grievous  affliction  and  the  city  was  in  sorrow  and 
distress.  Early  in  November  the  blow  began  to  fall  on  our  mis- 
sion. Our  Nestor,  the  veteran  of  fifty-five  years,  Dr.  Cornelius 
V.  A.  Van  Dyck,  whose  strength  was  already  depleted  by 
previous  illness,  was  attacked  by  the  dread  typhoid,  and  on 
November  1 3th  breathed  his  last.  The  whole  city  felt  his  death 
as  a  personal  bereavement,  and  his  funeral  was  attended  by  men 
of  all  sects  and  nationalities. 

By  his  special  request,  no  address  was  made  at  his  funeral.  A 
simple  service  was  conducted  in  Arabic  and  English.  But  under 
instructions  from  my  missionary  brethren,  I  delivered  on  Sun- 
day, the  17th,  a  memorial  discourse  in  English  and  on  Wednes- 
day, the  20th,  the  same  discourse  in  Arabic,  with  the  text,  John 
12  :  24,  "  Except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it 
abideth  alone,  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit." 

This  sermon  was  afterwards  by  request  repeated  in  Arabic  in 


6 14  Marking  Time 

Tripoli,  Sidon,  Zahleh,  Suk  el  Gharb  and  Abeih,  and  in  all  these 
places  men  of  all  sects,  Oriental  Christians,  Moslems  and  Druses 
were  among  the  hearers.  Dr.  Van  Dyck  was  seventy-seven 
years  of  age.  We  have  already  sketched  his  life  and  work  on  a 
previous  page.     A  gloom  seemed  settling  over  Beirut. 

Rumours  of  the  Armenian  massacres  multiplied.  On  the  25th, 
letters  from  Constantinople  told  of  20,000  massacred  in  the 
region  of  Bitlis,  Sivas,  and  Erzeroom,  etc.  A  war  broke  out  be- 
tween the  Druses  and  Bedawin  Arabs  at  Mejdel  Shems  and  other 
towns  south  of  Mount  Hermon  and  the  two  Protestant  churches 
of  Mejdel  Shems  and  Ain  Kuryeh  were  plundered  and  destroyed. 
When  in  Tripoli,  I  met  my  old  friend,  Sheikh  All  Rashid,  who 
expressed  great  sorrow  at  the  death  of  Dr.  Van  Dyck.  He  said 
that  he  had  recently  preached  in  the  Great  Mosque  on  the  text 
from  the  Fatiha,  "  Rabbi-ul-Ahlameen,"  "  Lord  of  the  Worlds  " 
— in  which  he  taught  that  Allah  is  not  the  God  of  the  Moslem 
world  only,  but  also  of  the  Christian  world,  and  that  all  men  are 
brothers.  I  could  well  believe  this,  as  his  aged  father,  Sheikh 
Rashid,  during  the  Crimean  War  in  1855,  when  the  Moslem 
rabble  were  threatening  to  kill  the  Greek  Christians  of  TripoU 
for  sympathizing  with  Russia,  went  through  the  streets  and 
quelled  the  mob,  sending  them  to  their  homes. 

Then  came  news  of  cholera  in  Damascus,  and,  without  previous 
notice,  a  cordon  was  put  on  against  passengers  by  the  railroad. 
Mrs.  Dr.  George  E.  Post  and  Dr.  Mary  P.  Eddy  who  had  taken 
the  train  from  Aleih  to  Beirut  found  themselves  at  sunset 
ordered  to  the  quarantine  outside  of  Beirut,  where  they  were  told 
they  must  spend  the  night  in  an  empty  room  whose  floor  was 
covered  with  filth,  without  a  morsel  of  food.  However,  Dr.  Post, 
hearing  of  the  situation,  sent  down  beds  from  the  city  and  every- 
thing needed  to  make  the  place  comfortable  for  the  night.  The 
dirt  had  to  be  shovelled  out.  And  this  was  for  first-class  pas- 
sengers on  the  railroad.  Fortunately  the  quarantine  did  not  last 
more  than  twenty-four  hours. 

On   December    5th   the   United  States  ship,  San  Francisco, 


Death  of  Mrs.  Samuel  Jessup  615 

Admiral  Selfridge,  reached  Beirut.  He  had  come  out  to  look 
after  American  interests  while  the  massacres  were  going  on. 
The  Moslem  rabble  in  Mersina,  Alexandretta,  Latakia,  Tripoli, 
and  Beirut,  and  other  seaports,  hold  such  a  ship  in  high  respect, 
and  such  an  admiral  speaks  plain  English  to  Turkish  officials  and 
local  sheikhs  along  the  coast. 

But  another  blow  was  to  fall,  to  fill  up  the  measure  of  our  grief. 
The  theological  class  had  closed  in  Lebanon  and  we  had  all 
moved  down  to  Beirut,  when,  on  December  nth,"  Aunt  Annie," 
my  brother  Samuel's  wife,  was  stricken  down  with  apoplexy. 
He  lived  in  the  lower  story  and  I  in  the  upper  of  the  same  house. 
Samuel  returned  from  the  press  before  sunset,  and  went  to  his 
study  as  usual.  Soon  after  he  looked  for  his  wife  and  found  her 
lying  unconscious  on  the  floor  of  her  room.  We  were  called, 
doctors  were  summoned,  but  all  in  vain.  Consciousness  never 
returned,  and  as  Dr.  William  Van  Dyck  stood  with  us  by  the 
bedside,  she  passed  away.  The  only  son  was  in  America  and  the 
only  daughter,  Fanny  (now  Mrs.  Rev.  James  R.  Swain),  was  forty 
miles  away  up  the  coast  in  Tripoli.  The  next  morning  through 
the  aid  of  a  beloved  niece,  then  a  visitor,  and  a  namesake  of 
"  Aunt  Annie,"  the  little  coasting  steamer,  Prince  George,  was 
chartered,  and  Dr.  W.  G.  Schauffler  and  my  daughter  Mary  vol- 
unteered to  go  and  bring  the  absent  one.  Consul  Gibson  and 
Dr.  Van  Dyck  went  down  to  the  wharf  at  6  p.  m.  to  meet  them 
and  the  rest  of  the  friends  sat  waiting.  But  we  sat  four  long 
hours  that  dark  night  waiting  in  suspense,  not  knowing  what 
might  have  befallen  that  frail,  unsteady  craft  on  the  troubled  sea, 
but  at  ten  o'clock  they  all  arrived  in  safety.  The  funeral  the  next 
day  was  largely  attended  by  a  loving  and  sympathetic  community. 
The  exercises  were  conducted  by  Drs.  Bliss,  Post,  Ford,  and  Porter, 
and  Messrs.  March  and  Hardin.  On  the  Sunday  following,  Dr. 
Post,  who  was  the  seminary  classmate  of  my  brother,  his  fellow 
chaplain  in  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  1861-1863,  and  his  colleague 
in  Tripoli  for  three  years,  delivered  a  most  touching  and  beauti- 
ful discourse  on  her  life  and  character.  She  was  known  by  the 
whole  Anglo-American  community  as  "  Aunt  Annie."     Full  of 


6i6  Marking  Time 

hospitality,  with  a  lovely  face,  cheerful  and  winning  in  her  man- 
ner, her  home  attracted  old  and  young. 

One  week  later,  a  little  boy,  Edgar  Rosedale,  the  son  of  a 
transient  resident  physician,  died  after  a  remarkable  religious 
experience.  He  was  twelve  years  old,  but  during  the  last  two 
days  of  his  life,  his  language  was  thrilling.  He  said  to  me  as  I 
was  about  to  offer  prayer,  '•  I  am  going  to  meet  Christ.  When 
you  pray  tell  Jesus  I  am  coming,  so  He  can  tell  the  angels  and 
they  can  recognize  me.  I  will  give  your  love  to  all  your  friends 
when  I  get  there.  I  see  Jesus."  He  bade  good-bye  to  all  his 
friends.  A  notorious  scoffer  being  near  came  in  and  would  not 
leave  his  bedside,  saying,  "  Now  I  know  that  Christ  is  a  real 
Saviour." 

A  young  student  of  the  college  was  ill  with  typhoid  fever. 
His  professors  urged  the  family  who  lived  in  a  crowded  tenement 
house  to  remove  him  to  the  hospital.  They  declined-  I  went 
often  to  see  him.  He  lay  on  a  pallet  in  the  middle  of  the  floor 
and  the  room  was  crowded  with  a  noisy  company  of  men, 
women,  and  children,  talking  and  walking  about,  while  the  poor 
lad  tossed  in  a  delirium.  The  people  made  their  remarks  about 
the  patient,  and  literally  gave  him  no  rest.  I  expostulated  with 
the  mother  and  tried  to  drive  out  the  crowd,  telling  them  that 
they  would  kill  the  young  man,  but  to  no  avail,  and  in  a  few 
hours  he  died.  The  people  have  an  unaccountable  dread  of  a 
hospital,  although  the  service  of  the  trained  German  deaconesses, 
who  are  nurses  in  the  German  hospital  in  Beirut,  is  better  than 
any  possible  service  in  a  Syrian  house.  Several  members  of  our 
family  have  been  nursed  through  typhoid  in  that  beautiful  hos- 
pital, and  we  lose  no  opportunity  to  commend  it  to  the  people. 

On  the  26th  of  December  I  baptized  a  young  Mohammedan 
convert  from  near  Acre.  He  gave  good  evidence  of  being  an  in- 
telligent and  sincere  Christian.  His  Christian  name  was  Naanet- 
Ullah  Abdul  Messiah. 

The  statement  so  often  made  that  there  are  no  converts  from 
Islam  is  easily  refuted.     The  facts  cannot  be  published  at  the 


l8g6  a  Year  of  Gloom  617 

time,  lest  the  ignorant  and  fanatical  populace,  incited  by  their 
sheikhs,  take  the  lives  of  the  converts.  I  have  baptized  no  less 
than  thirty  males  and  females.  Some  are  unmolested,  but  the 
majority  had  to  flee  from  the  country.  The  whole  number  of 
converts  of  whom  I  have  knowledge  is  between  forty  and 
fifty. 

1896 — This  year  opened  in  gloom.  New  massacres  of  Arme- 
nians in  Oorfa  and  Eastern  Turkey,  a  desperate  rebellion  of  the 
Druses  in  Hauran,  who  killed  hundreds  of  Turkish  regulars,  the 
excitement  of  the  Moslem  populace  on  being  obliged  to  send 
their  brothers,  husbands,  and  sons  as  reserves  to  the  war,  and  the 
continuance  of  the  typhoid  epidemic  in  Beirut,  filling  the  city 
with  mourning ;  all  these  combined  to  depress  the  public  mind. 
Ships  of  war  from  England,  France,  and  the  United  States  re- 
stored confidence  to  the  seaport  provinces,  but  the  apathy  of  the 
Christian  powers  with  regard  to  the  murder  of  50,000  men,  women, 
and  children  in  the  interior  was  inexplicable.  But  it  was  asserted 
by  British  residents  in  the  East  that  a  British  fleet  was  ordered  to 
the  Dardanelles,  and  to  force  an  entrance  to  the  Bosphorus  as  a 
protest  against  the  massacres,  but  just  at  that  moment  President 
Cleveland's  raising  of  a  critical  question  with  England  with  regard 
to  Venezuela  occasioned  the  instant  withdrawal  of  the  fleet,  and 
thus  the  opportunity  was  lost. 

On  January  4,  1896,  I  received  a  cable  from  a  daughter  of  our 
dear  friend  Mr.  William  A.  Booth,  announcing  his  death,  January 
2d,  aged  ninety- one.  The  departure  of  this  patriarch  of  the 
missionary  Board  and  supporter  and  friend  of  every  good  cause 
was  a  loss  to  the  whole  Church.  His  breadth  of  view  and  grasp 
of  all  details  and  bearings  of  important  questions  and  his  im- 
perturbable serenity  and  sweetness  of  disposition  made  him  a 
man  to  be  sought  for  as  counsellor  and  friend.  His  sons  and 
daughters  have  followed  his  example.  The  whole  Church  mourned 
his  departure.  With  Hon.  Wm.  E.  Dodge,  his  fellow  elder  in 
the  old  14th  Street  Church,  he  was  one  of  the  original  trustees 
of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College,  and  having  visited  Syria,  he 


6i8  Marking  Time 

was  wise  in  counsel  and  fertile   in  resources  for  the  good  of  this 
institution. 

During  the  summer,  brother  Samuel  Jessup  and  his  daughter 
were  afflicted  with  whooping-cough,  and  soon  after  I  took  it 
from  them.  As  both  Samuel  and  I  had  had  it  in  childhood,  we 
concluded  that  we  had  it  every  sixty  years.  It  was  quite  severe 
and  played  such  havoc  with  my  voice  that  in  November  the 
physicians  enjoined  upon  me  absolute  silence  and  a  change  of 
air.  This  led  to  my  going  to  Helouan,  thirteen  miles  southeast 
of  Cairo.  Here  a  dry,  clear,  cloudless  atmosphere,  cool,  bracing 
desert  air  at  night,  and  opportunity  for  walks  and  donkey  rides 
to  the  adjacent  hills  and  mountains,  with  quiet,  cool  rooms  at 
Heltgel's  Hotel,  wrought  wonders  in  the  way  of  restoration,  and 
after  a  month  I  was  able  to  return  to  my  work  in  Beirut.  On 
my  return  I  brought  about  five  hundred  pounds  of  geological 
specimens  of  fossil  wood  and  shells  from  the  "  drift  "  at  Helouan 
and  from  the  Mukottam  mountains  east  of  Cairo.  The  custom- 
house inspectors  in  Beirut  were  full  of  amazement  at  my  bring- 
ing so  many  stones.  They  said,  "  Are  there  no  stones  in  Syria  ?  " 
I  might  have  reminded  them  that  the  old  Phoenician  emperors, 
and  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  brought  granite  and  porphyry 
columns  to  Syria  from  Assowan'in  Upper  Egypt. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  mission  on  February  4th,  my 
brother  Samuel  was  stationed  in  Sidon,  whither  he  removed  in 
October  and  Mr.  Doolittle  removed  from  Sidon  to  Deir  el  Komr, 
the  old  capital  of  Lebanon. 

Miss  Mary  Lyons,  who  was  born  in  Beirut  in  1855  and  taught 
for  a  season  in  Sidon  Seminary,  died  in  Montrose,  Pa.,  the  home 
of  her  father,  June  I2th. 

March  2d  Messrs.  John  Wanamaker,  John  W.  Parsons,  and 
W.  W.  Crapo  arrived  on  the  Furst  Bismarck.  Mr.  Wana- 
maker gave  a  stirring  talk  to  the  college  students  and  gave  a  sub- 
stantial contribution  towards  a  new  professorship. 

Mrs.  H.  A.  De  Forest  died  in  Lakewood  April  3,  1896. 


Death  of  Mrs.  De  Forest  619 

It  was  hard  to  understand  why  the  blessed  work  of  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  De  Forest  was  so  prematurely  interrupted  in  1854,  when 
their  mastery  of  the  Arabic  language,  their  intellectual  culture 
and  unusual  gifts  and  graces  of  personal  character  had  fitted  them 
to  mould  a  whole  generation  of  Syrian  youth. 

The  Russian  consul  in  Beirut,  the  Prince  Gargarin,  who  is 
superintendent  of  the  Russian  Schools  in  Syria,  ordered  our 
Arabic  Scriptures  to  be  put  in  all  the  Russian  Schools.  They 
purchased  in  one  year  some  7,000  copies,  and  thus  thousands  of 
children  of  the  Orthodox  Greek  sect  will  be  taught  to  read  the 
Word  of  God. 

After  the  siege  of  Zeitoon  in  Asia  Minor  by  Turkish  troops, 
when  the  hardy  Armenian  mountaineers  defeated  the  Turkish 
regulars  in  battle  after  battle,  a  surrender  was  arranged  through 
the  interposition  and  guarantees  of  the  British  consul  in  Aleppo. 
But  owing  to  want  of  food,  exposure,  and  cold,  a  pestilence 
broke  out  among  the  people,  attended  by  famine.  The  Red 
Cross  Society  telegraped  to  Beirut  for  doctors  and  medicines, 
and  April  4th,  Dr.  Ira  Harris  of  Tripoli  left  for  Zeitoon  accom- 
panied by  two  faithful  doctors.  Dr.  Faris  Sahyun  and  Dr.  Amin 
Maloof,  graduates  of  the  Beirut  Medical  College.  After  encoun- 
tering great  difficulties  from  the  local  governors  along  the  road 
who  feared  that  this  deputation  might  in  some  way  "  aid  or  abet " 
the  Armenian  revolt,  they  reached  Zeitoon  and  found  famine, 
fever,  and  dysentery  raging  and  at  once  opened  a  soup  kitchen 
and  fed  the  half-starved  people,  treated  them  for  disease, 
cleaned  the  town  of  filth  unspeakable  and  finally  the  plague  was 
stayed. 

In  April,  the  United  States  minister  in  Constantinople  left  on 
a  visit  to  America.  He  was  a  man  of  much  energy,  and  in  lan- 
guage more  forcible  than  Scriptural  had  threatened  the  Porte,  in 
case  any  American  should  be  killed  in  the  massacres,  with  dire 
consequences.  Orders  actually  went  out  from  the  Porte  that  all 
American  missionaries  be  ordered  to  leave  the  empire  at  once. 


620  Marking  Time 

Nothing  was  known  of  this  among  the  foreigners  in  Constanti- 
nople until  Saturday  p.  m.,  March  28th,  when  Sir  Philip  Currie, 
British  ambassador,  received  a  telegram  from  the  British  consul 
in  Moosh  that  the  Waly  there  informed  him  that  he  had  received 
such  an  irade  and  had  ordered  the  American  missionaries  in 
Bitlis  and  Van  to  leave  in  forty-eight  hours.  Sir  Philip  drove  at 
once  to  the  house  of  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  and  de- 
manded an  explanation.  The  minister  denied  that  such  an  order 
had  been  issued,  but  the  next  morning,  Sunday,  when  Mr.  Block 
was  sent  by  Sir  Philip  to  demand  an  explanation,  he  admitted  it 
but  that  it  was  not  his  work.  Sir  Philip  then  sent  word  to  Mr. 
Riddle,  United  States  Charge  d'affaires,  in  the  absence  of  Judge 
Turrell,  and  they  went  together  to  the  grand  vizier  and  the 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.  They  both  admitted  it  had  been 
sent.  Sir  Philip  then  in  the  joint  name  of  England  and  the 
United  States,  demanded  that  the  order  be  revoked  within 
twenty-four  hours  and  that  a  copy  of  its  revocation  be  given 
them. 

The  Turkish  ofificial  retraction  of  the  imperial  irade  or  order 
for  the  expulsion  of  the  American  missionaries  I  copy  from  the 
Beirut  Arabic  journal,  Lisan  el  Hal. 

Removal  of  Ambiguity 

April  II,  i8g6. 
The  imperial  government  issued  orders  to  the  Walys  of  Anatolic 
(Asia  Minor)  to  expel  from  the  kingdoms  preserved  of  God  all  for- 
eigners who  had  had  a  hand  in  disturbing  the  public  tranquillity.  The 
Waly  of  Bitlis  supposed  that  these  orders  referred  to  the  American  mis- 
sionaries living  in  his  district.  This  has  obliged  the  imperial  govern- 
ment to  remove  the  ambiguity.  It  has  therefore  issued  other  orders 
enjoining  the  protection  of  the  aforesaid  missionaries,  and  that  they 
continue  to  carry  on  their  work  as  usual,  and  that  they  enjoy  what  they 
have  enjoyed  and  still  continue  to  enjoy,  of  rest,  security  and  liberty, 
in  their  religious  works. 

This  was  done,  and  thus  the  intrigues  of  the  Russian  agents 
who  instigated  the  Turk  to  this  action  were  thwarted.     Hopkin- 


Hopkinson  Smith's  Mistake  621 

son  Smith's  theory  of  American  responsibility  for  the  massacres 
was  about  as  logical  as  that  the  Bible  was  to  blame  for  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  or  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  or  that 
the  English  Magna  Charta  was  responsible  for  the  horrors  of  the 
French  Revolution. 

It  was  an  important  element  in  the  case  that  owing  to  the  fact 
that  the  American  missionaries  were  acting  as  disbursing  agents 
of  British  charity  to  the  Armenian  widows  and  orphans,  Sir 
Philip  Currie  regarded  them  as  so  far  under  British  protection, 
and  thus  Mr.  Riddle  could  act  jointly  with  him  in  all  representa- 
tions at  the  Porte.  Had  Judge  Turrell  been  at  his  post,  he 
might,  with  his  Texan  independence,  have  decHned  to  join  with 
Sir  Philip  in  the  forcible  protest  to  the  Sultan,  and  thus  the 
representation  failed  of  its  immediate  object.  As  it  was,  the 
dual  intrigue  of  the  Cossack  and  Tartar  was  thwarted  by  the 
joint  action  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  representatives. 

Hopkinson  Smith  stated  to  the  American  journals  that  Judge 
Turrell  told  him  that  "  the  missionaries  are  to  blame  for  the 
massacres  and  that  they  have  fomented  rebellion,  sedition,"  etc. 
Judge  Turrell  utterly  denied  this  statement  of  the  American 
artist, 

Mr.  Smith  seemed  incapable  of  appreciating  the  great  work 
done  in  Turkey  by  his  countrymen  in  founding  schools,  colleges, 
seminaries,  printing-presses,  and  hospitals  during  the  previous 
seventy  years. 

On  May  2d  I  went  aboard  the  French  steamer  to  see  Rev.. 
Geo.  Knapp,  an  American  missionary  from  Bitlis,  who  informed 
me  that  he  was  forcibly  arrested  and  expelled  from  the  city,  leav- 
ing his  mother,  wife,  and  two  children  behind  him.  False 
charges  were  made  against  him  and  he  only  consented  to  come 
away,  as  a  massacre  was  threatened  if  he  did  not.  At  Diarbekir 
they  refused  to  let  him  send  a  telegram  to  his  minister  in  Con- 
stantinople and  he  was  expelled  in  midwinter.  They  offered  to 
release  him  in  Aleppo  if  he  would  sign  a  pledge  not  to  return  to 
Biths.     Of    course    he    refused.     They   endorsed  his   passpon, 


622  Marking  Time 

"  expelled  from  Turkey."  At  Alexandretta  they  refused  to  give 
him  up  to  the  American  vice-consul,  Mr.  Walker.  Mr.  Walker 
telegraphed  to  Consul  Gibson  in  Beirut  who  at  once  telegraphed 
Captain  Jewell  of  the  United  States  ship  Marblehead  to  go  to 
Alexandretta.  The  Turks  heard  of  this  telegram  and  on  Friday 
released  Mr.  Knapp,  who  went  at  once  to  Mr.  Walker's.  The 
Marblehead  arrived  Sunday,  April  26th,  and  Captain  Jewell  sent 
his  boat  and  took  Mr.  Knapp  to  the  French  steamship  bound  for 
Constantinople  via  Beirut.  He  went  to  Constantinople  to 
demand  a  fair  trial  there.  The  British  consul  in  Bitlis  declared 
the  charges  against  him  to  be  utterly  unfounded. 

Senator  Sherman  in  the  Independent  of  April  30th,  replying  to 
Prof.  A.  D.  F.  Hamlin,  makes  the  announcement  that  "  if  our 
citizens  go  to  a  far  distant  country,  semi-civilized  and  bitterly 
opposed  to  them,  we  cannot  follow  them  there  and  protect 
them,"  etc. 

This  is  an  astonishing  statement.  Can  it  be  that  Mr.  Sherman 
never  heard  of  Daniel  Webster's  letter  to  the  United  States 
minister  in  Constantinople  in  1841  that  "  an  American  citizen  will 
be  protected  as  an  American  citizen  always  and  everywhere  no 
matter  what  his  business  or  occupation."  Fortunately,  Senator 
Sherman  did  not  voice  the  policy  of  our  government.  It  would 
be  well  if  our  public  men,  especially  the  Senate  Committee  on 
Foreign  Affairs,  could  take  a  journey  around  the  world  and  see 
something  more  of  the  world  than  their  own  states  and  districts, 
and  perhaps  enjoy  the  privilege  of  being  kicked  out  of  the 
"  semi-civilized  "  lands  by  men  who  have  no  fear  that  America 
will  protect  her  sons.  He  seems  to  think  that  a  "  declaration  of 
war"  is  the  only  way  of  protecting  our  citizens.  But  surely 
England,  France,  Germany,  and  Italy  protect  their  citizens  with- 
out declaring  war,  because  they  know  how  to  speak  in  plain 
language. 

Should  Mr.  Sherman's  views  be  adopted  by  the  American 
government,  it  would  be  wise  for  our  citizens  in  the  interior  of 
Turkey,  Persia,  and  China  to  put  themselves  under  the  protection 
of  the  British  consuls  who  would  protect  them  against  all  comers. 


Scarlet  Fever  Gets  in  Duty  Free  623 

The  1 8th  of  April  was  a  memorable  day  for  the  suffering 
people  of  Syria.  The  executive  committee  of  the  "  Lebanon 
Hospital  for  the  Insane  "  was  organized  in  Beirut. 

In  May,  the  scarlet  fever  appeared  in  Beirut  for  the  first  time 
and  many  children  fell  victims  to  it.  It  was  thought  to  have 
been  brought  in  the  baggage  of  emigrants  returning  from 
America,  as  it  also  appeared  among  them  in  Zahleh. 

In  June  the  Presbytery  of  Mount  Lebanon  and  Beirut  was 
organized  in  Zahleh,  and  has  continued  an  efficient  working 
body  until  the  present  time. 

In  October  Miss  Bernice  Hunting  arrived  from  America  as 
colleague  with  Miss  La  Grange  in  the  Tripoli  Girls'  School. 

September  20th,  to  the  great  regret  of  the  entire  American 
community  and  all  the  Europeans  and  natives  who  knew  him, 
our  excellent  consul,  Thomas  R.  Gibson,  of  Georgia,  died  of 
smallpox  in  the  hospital  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John  in  Beirut. 

Mrs.  Gerald  F.  Dale,  having  written  from  America  resigning 
her  connection  with  the  mission,  the  members  in  attendance  at 
the  semi-annual  meeting  in  June  embodied  in  a  minute  their 
deep  regret  at  this  sundering  of  our  official  connections  and 
commending  her  to  the  care  and  guidance  of  the  Great  Head  of 
the  Church.  She  has  endeared  herself  to  not  only  her  fellow 
labourers,  but  to  the  women  and  girls  in  many  towns  and 
villages  in  Syria.  She  is  now  (1908)  superintendent  of  the  Maria 
DeWitt  Jesup  hospitals  for  women  and  children  and  training- 
school  for  nurses  in  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  in  Beirut. 

In  July  a  new  rebellion  broke  out  in  Hauran  and  the  Druses 
surprised  and  massacred  two  battalions  of  Turkish  troops  and 
tore  up  the  railroad  tracks  and  the  telegraph  wires.  Twenty-five 
hundred  troops  were  brought  on  from  Macedonia  to  quell  the 
insurrection.  Only  last  winter  the  Druses  were  defeated,  crushed, 
and  nominally  brought  into  subjection.     The  Lebanon  Druses 


624  Marking  Time 

claim  that  the  reason  of  the  present  outbreak  is  the  outrages 
committed  by  the  Turkish  troops  on  their  women  and  girls. 

The  Turkish  government  with  great  mihtary  sagacity  have 
now  (1906)  opened  three  railway  lines  of  approach  to  the  Druse 
strongholds,  the  two  roads  from  Damascus  to  Mezeirib  from  the 
north,  and  the  Haifa  railroad  from  the  west,  so  that  a  future 
Druse  rebellion  in  Hauran  is  well-nigh  impossible. 

During  this  year  the  Zahleh  manse  was  erected  but  not  com- 
pleted. Mr.  Hoskins  sailed  for  America  in  September,  having 
ably  superintended  the  work  of  construction.  But  the  funds 
were  exhausted  and  the  building  was  roofless,  and  in  peril  from 
the  coming  winter  rains  and  snows.  I  went  over  September  i8th 
and  with  my  son  William  contracted  with  Omar,  the  head  car- 
penter, to  put  on  the  tiles  at  once,  raising  the  necessary  funds 
from  private  sources. 

It  has  been  the  policy  of  the  mission  not  to  erect  residences 
for  missionaries  where  suitable  dry  native  houses  can  be  leased. 
But  years  of  leaky  roofs  and  vermin-infested  ceilings  and  walls 
in  Zahleh  and  the  large  amount  expended  annually  in  rents,  con- 
vinced the  mission  and  the  Board  that  Zahleh  was  an  exception 
to  the  rule.  Hence  through  the  liberality  of  intelligent  friends 
in  New  York,  Pittsburg,  and  other  places,  the  funds  were  pro- 
vided, and  the  members  of  the  station  have  a  dry,  clean,  com- 
fortable house. 

1897 — ^^  January  I  was  at  Helouan,  the  desert  city  southeast 
of  Cairo,  trying  to  recover  my  voice  lost  by  whooping-cough. 

In  February,  the  mission  having  again  changed  its  mind  as  to 
the  desirability  of  conducting  theological  education  in  Beirut, 
voted  to  sell  the  fine  edifice  known  as  the  "  Theological  Build- 
ing "  on  the  college  grounds  to  the  college  trustees,  the  same 
being  changed  to  '•  Morris  K.  Jesup  Hall "  in  honour  of  the 
donor  of  the  purchase  money.  The  fund  received  was  retained 
by  the  Board  for  use  in  case  of  future  need  for  theological  edu- 
cation. 


Brainless  Censorship  625 

Our  Argus-eyed  friends,  the  censors,  suppressed  our  Arabic 
geography,  which  the  government  had  officially  approved  in 
several  editions,  as  the  word  "  Armenia "  was  used  to  describe 
that  province  in  Eastern  Turkey  which  has  been  known  by  that 
name  since  the  days  of  the  kings  of  Israel;  and  Arabia  was 
spoken  of  as  an  independent  province. 

They  also  struck  out  of  the  book,  "  The  Right  Road,"  the  verse 
quoted  from  Titus  i  :  5, — "  For  this  cause  left  I  thee  in  Crete 
that  thou  shouldest  set  in  order  the  things  that  are  wanting  and 
ordain  elders  in  every  city."  The  censor  argued,  "  Crete  is  un- 
der the  Sultan,  and  who  dares  assert  that  anything  can  be  warit- 
hig  in  his  imperial  domains  ?  "  So  they  struck  out  the  disloyal 
passage,  although  every  verse  in  the  Bible  has  the  official  sanc- 
tion of  His  Imperial  Majesty's  government ! 

Alas,  protest  is  useless.  Were  His  Majesty  cognizant  of  the 
lack  of  brains  in  his  press  censors,  he  would  probably  order  them 
to  be  put  on  a  diet  of  fish  and  phosphorus.  When  a  jealous 
general  complained  sanctimoniously  to  President  Lincoln  that 
General  Grant,  the  captor  of  Vicksburg,  drank  whiskey,  the 
President  replied,  "  Is  that  so  ?  If  you  can  tell  me  what  brand 
of  whiskey  General  Grant  uses,  I  will  order  a  supply  for  all  the 
generals,  as  he  seems  to  be  the  only  one  who  does  things."  It 
would  be  well  if  educated  men  could  be  put  in  charge  of  the  de- 
partment of  pubhc  instruction.  We  have  had  censors  in  Syria 
who  knew  neither  geography  nor  history,  and  who  pronounced 
on  books  whose  language  they  did  not  understand. 

In  March  we  were  favoured  with  another  visit  from  my  dear 
friend,  the  venerable  Canon  H.  B.  Tristram,  who  was  travelling 
with  Miss  Kennaway,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Kennaway  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society.  We  drove  together  to  the  Dog 
River  and  examined  again  the  locality  of  bone  breccia  which  he 
discovered  thirty-three  years  before,  and  from  which  I  had 
quarried  a  camel  load  for  him  and  his  English  scientific  friends. 
He  viewed  with  interest  the  great  progress  made  in  all  the 
Protestant    missionary  institutions,  and   spoke    as    a  scientific 


626  Marking  Time 

botanist  with  the  highest  appreciation  of  the  great  work  of  Dr. 
Geo.  E.  Post  on  the  "  Flora  of  Syria  and  Palestine." 

We  were  grieved  to  learn  afterwards  from  Jerusalem  that  he 
was  kicked  by  a  horse  at  Bethany  and  had  his  leg  broken. 

The  friendship  of  such  men  as  Canon  Tristram  and  Sir  William 
Muir  I  greatly  prize.  They  both  were  fine  specimens  of  the 
learned  class  in  England,  who  are  at  the  same  time  earnest 
Protestant  evangelical  Christians,  in  warm  sympathy  with  Chris- 
tian missions  as  well  as  with  the  progress  of  learning.  Canon 
Tristram  had  no  sympathy  with  those  mimics  of  popery  in  the 
Church  of  England,  who  repudiate  the  name  Protestant,  nor  had 
he  any  sympathy  with  the  attempts  to  fraternize  with  the  ikon 
worshipping  and  Mariolatrous  Oriental  Church. 

During  the  month  of  April  I  was  visiting  the  well-known  Mo- 
hammed Efifendi  B of  Beirut  during  Ramadan  and  the  con- 
versation turned  to  the  subject  of  fasting.  He  remarked  that 
some  of  the  Christian  ecclesiastics  who  compel  their  people  to 
fast  in  Lent  are  not  very  scrupulous  themselves  about  fasting. 
He  said  that  he  was  once  invited  during  Lent  to  dine  with  a 
company  of  officials  at  the  house  of  a  Christian  bishop.  The 
bishop  was  fasting  and  had  special  dishes  prepared  for  him  and 
his  priests.  The  rest  of  the  food  consisted  of  meat  and  chicken 
and  the  usual  courses.  He  sat  next  the  bishop  around  the  Ori- 
j  ental  table  and  each  one  was  helping  himself  with  his  hands 
from  the  dish  before  him.  In  the  midst  of  the  meal  the  light 
went  out,  and  they  were  left  in  darkness.  While  the  servant 
went  for  another  lamp  they  continued  eating,  and  as  he  ex- 
tended his  hand  to  help  himself  to  chicken,  he  grasped  the  hand 
of  the  bishop  in  the  platter  of  chicken  !  There  was  mutual 
laughter  and  the  matter  passed  as  a  capital  joke.  One  can 
imagine  the  effect  produced  upon  the  mind  of  this  intelligent 
Moslem  by  the  insincerity  of  his  ecclesiastical  friend.  When  he 
told  it  to  me,  he  added,  "  We  have  Moslems  who  eat  in  Ramadan 
on  the  sly."  This  is  notorious.  The  back  room  of  a  well-known 
druggist  in  Beirut  is  frequented  in  Ramadan  by  young  Moslems 


A  Season  of  Sorrow  627 

who  lunch  there  unseen  by  the  public.  Not  a  few  Turkish 
officials  lunch  openly  during  Ramadan  at  the  hotels  and  restau- 
rants. 

The  summer  of  1897  was  a  season  of  sorrow  and  anxiety 
throughout  mission  circles  in  Syria, 

On  the  6th  of  June  Rev.  Archibald  Stuart,  of  the  Irish  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  Damascus,  died  of  typhoid  fever.  His  friend, 
Dr.  McKinnon,  brought  him  in  from  Nebk  to  the  Victoria 
Hospital  in  Damascus,  but  he  sank  rapidly  and  passed  away.  He 
was  probably  the  most  promising  young  missionary  in  Western 
Asia,  of  great  intellectual  and  spiritual  gifts,  a  preacher  of  power 
and  unction  and  beloved  by  the  people.  He  gave  a  series  of 
sermons  to  the  college  students  in  Beirut  in  February,  and  won 
the  hearts  of  all.  On  the  same  day.  Miss  James,  recently 
directress  of  the  British  Syrian  Schools,  died  in  England,  greatly 
lamented.  Her  influence  while  in  Syria  was  profoundly  spiritual 
and  uplifting. 

The  week  previous,  Rev.  David  Metheny,  M.  D.,  the  veteran 
missionary  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  Mersina,  the 
port  of  Tarsus,  died  of  heart  failure.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
medical  and  surgical  skill,  a  good  Arabic  preacher,  of  extra- 
ordinary energy,  tender  hearted  and  self-denying,  generous  and 
sympathetic  with  the  poor.  He  was  on  the  point  of  sailing  for 
America  with  his  family,  when  heart  disease,  which  had  kept 
him  long  in  expectation  of  sudden  death,  culminated  in  instant 
release  from  pain  and  suffering.  I  loved  the  good  brother.  We 
differed  on  the  subject  of  hymn  singing,  but  he  was  a  great  lover 
of  good  music.  In  1886  we  sang  together  the  old  negro 
melodies  and  he  accompanied  on  the  violin,  as  Mrs.  Jessup  and  I 
sang  the  words.  We  taught  him  "  Old  Black  Joe,"  whose 
pathetic  weirdness  seemed  to  touch  a  tender  spot  in  his  refined 
nature.  But  at  family  prayers  nothing  but  the  psalms  could  be 
used.  And  we  did  not  discuss  the  hymn  question.  I  used  to 
tell  him  that  we  have  one  advantage.  "  You  can  only  sing  psalms. 
We  can  also  sing  psalms,  and  hymns  besides."     He  would  sing 


628  Marking  Time 

hymns  as  musical  practice  in  off  hours,  but  never  in  pubHc  or 
private  worship.  His  successors  are  good  and  true  men  and  I 
long  for  the  day  when  we  can  all  meet  in  religious  conferences 
and  sit  together  at  the  table  of  our  common  Lord. 

After  his  removal  from  Latakia  to  Mersina,  he  purchased 
land  on  the  seashore  near  the  port  and  proceeded  to  erect  a  mis- 
sion house.  The  Waly  at  Adana  ordered  him  to  stop,  after  the 
house  was  nearing  completion.  He  did  not  stop.  The  Waly 
then  sent  word  that  he  would  come  down  on  the  railroad  with 
troops  and  force  him  to  stop  and  tear  down  the  building.  Be- 
fore the  train  arrived,  a  telegram  reached  the  doctor,  "  The 
United  States  ship  Marblehead  will  be  in  Mersina  to-morrow." 

Just  then  the  train  came  in,  and  the  troops  began  their  march 
with  the  Waly  at  their  head.  The  doctor  gave  the  telegram  to 
his  teacher  and  said,  "  Take  this  to  the  Waly  wherever  he  is,  on 
the  street,  and  ask  him  to  appoint  a  suitable  officer  to  escort  the 
American  admiral  to-morrow  to  the  American  premises  !  "  The 
Waly  read  the  telegram,  gave  new  orders,  and  the  troops 
wheeled  and  after  marching  around  the  city,  brought  up  at  the 
railroad  station  headed  for  Adana.  The  doctor  was  not  molested 
after  that  episode. 

The  Zahleh  station  was  severely  smitten.  My  son  William 
was  ill  with  typhoid  fever  for  forty  days  and  during  his  illness, 
when  too  weak  to  know  what  was  transpiring,  his  infant  son, 
Henry,  died  of  cholera  infantum.  I  was  there  at  the  time,  and 
at  midnight  left  Zahleh  in  a  carriage  with  an  aunt  of  the  dear 
child  and  drove  to  Beirut,  bearing  the  little  casket  for  burial  in 
the  old  mission  cemetery.  That  midnight  drive  over  the  heights 
of  Lebanon,  with  that  little  dead  grandchild,  was  one  of  those 
solemn  scenes  which  can  never  be  effaced  from  human  memory. 
The  father  was  not  informed  of  his  death  for  two  weeks,  when 
fever  had  ceased  and  his  strength  began  to  return.  The 
Lord  gave  him  strength  to  bear  it  patiently  but  it  was  a  bitter 
trial. 

While  Williani  was  at  the  most  critical  stage  of  the  fever,  a  fire 


Fighting  Fire  629 

broke  out  in  the  flue  of  the  kitchen  fireplace.  The  walls  were 
of  sun-dried  brick  and  the  chimney  was  simply  a  hole  between 
the  outer  and  inner  walls  made  of  clay  and  cut  straw  or  tibn. 
The  tibn  had  ignited  and  when  the  cook  discovered  the  fire  at 
3  p.  M,,  the  entire  chimney  up  to  the  roof  was  a  glowing  coal  of 
fire,  A  terrific  wind  was  blowing  at  the  time  and  the  only 
available  water  was  a  few  jars  in  the  house  brought  from  the 
river  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant.  I  went  up  a  ladder  to  the  roof 
and  gave  the  alarm  to  the  neighbours.  Owing  to  the  gale  we 
could  hardly  stand  on  the  roof  and  as  jar  after  jar  of  water  was 
brought  by  the  kind  neighbours,  we  poured  it  down  the  chim- 
ney. For  a  full  hour  we  fought  the  fire  and  finally  thought  we 
had  subdued  it.  The  tiled  roof  which  adjoined  the  chimney  was 
made  of  timber  dry  as  tinder  and  extended  over  the  court  and 
over  the  room  of  the  sick  one.  Had  the  cook  not  discovered  the 
fire  just  as  he  did,  the  flame  which  had  already  licked  the  ends  of 
the  beams  of  the  tiled  roof  would  have  swept  over  the  whole 
house  and  blocked  all  exit  from  the  sick-room.  Before  sunset 
the  watchman  whom  we  had  left  on  the  roof  shouted  that  the 
fire  had  broken  out  afresh  and  we  had  another  half  hour's 
struggle,  using  all  the  water  in  the  vicinity  until  at  length  the 
whole  wall  was  water  soaked  and  the  house  was  saved.  It  was  one 
of  those  providential  deliverances  which  fill  the  heart  with  grati- 
tude and  praise  to  Him  who  careth  for  us.  I  cannot  think  of 
that  hour  of  peril  without  a  shudder. 

Later  in  the  season,  his  daughter  Elizabeth  was  'prostrated 
with  typhoid  and  December  i8th,  Mrs.  William  Jessup,  the 
mother,  perceiving  symptoms  of  the  same  malady,  took  the  train 
for  Beirut  and  entered  the  St.  John's  Hospital,  where,  under  the 
care  of  Dr.  Graham  and  the  German  deaconesses  as  nurses,  she 
came  through  safely.  Meantime,  a  lovely  English  girl.  Miss 
Kitty  Dray,  teaching  in  the  British  Syrian  School  in  Zahleh, 
died  of  the  same  fell  disease  and  was  brought  to  Beirut  for 
burial. 

Our  hearts  were  gladdened  by  the  arrival  of  my  son  Frederick, 


630  Marking  Time 

who,  after  graduating  at  Princeton,  had  come  to  serve  a  three 
years'  course  as  tutor  in  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  in  Beirut. 

At  this  time  came  a  staggering  blow  from  the  West.  The 
Board  of  Missions,  in  view  of  financial  stress,  cut  off  at  one 
stroke  fifteen  thousand  dollars  from  the  annual  appropriation  to 
the  mission.  That  is,  more  than  one-fourth  of  the  allowance  for 
the  foreign  and  native  labourers,  the  seminaries,  schools, 
itineracy,  publication,  and  hospital  work.  The  bitter  pill  was 
sugar  coated  with  fraternal  assurances  of  great  regret  and 
sympathy  with  us  in  our  distress.  The  mission  was  called  to- 
gether and  the  surgeon  knife  of  vivisection  had  to  do  its  work. 
About  forty  village  schools  were  closed,  about  one-half  of  which 
were  kindly  taken  up  by  the  British  Syrian  Mission. 

Many  teachers,  trained  and  experienced,  were  discharged ; 
others  resigned  and  entered  the  employment  of  other  societies 
with  our  full  approbation.  Who  could  blame  a  man  with  a  wife 
and  nine  children  for  resigning  when  his  salary  was  reduced  from 
thirty  to  twenty  dollars  a  month  ? 

Every  department  took  its  share  of  the  "  cut."  The  native 
churches  and  congregations  were  urged  to  assume  more  of  their 
expenses.  The  missionaries  gave  of  their  scanty  means  to  re- 
lieve the  pressure.  Owing  to  the  extraordinary  rise  in  the  cost 
of  living,  hardly  a  missionary  in  Syria  can  live  on  his  salary,  and 
but  for  private  resources  would  have  to  resign  and  go  home. 

We  have  had  frequent  "  cuts,"  as  they  are  called,  but  this  was 
"  the  most  unkindest  cut  of  all,"  not  because  of  any  conceivable 
unkindness  on  the  part  of  the  Board  or  the  Church  at  home,  but 
from  its  placing  us  in  the  position  of  discriminating  in  our  own 
favour,  when  applying  the  excision  to  others.  It  would  be  a 
happy  day  for  missions  if  they  could  be  carried  on  without 
money ;  and  the  most  trying  feature  of  the  work  is  its  making  the 
foreign  missionary  an  employer  and  the  native  labourers  em- 
ployees. In  a  great  press  like  that  in  Beirut,  we  have  nearly 
fifty  male  and  female  employees,  but  the  press  manager,  for- 
tunately now  a  layman,  pays  all  the  wages.     When  Dr.  Van 


1-5  ^ 
^    o 

S    £3 

m 


Who  Should  Bear  the  Burden  of  a  "  Cut "  ?      631 

Dyck,  myself,  Dr.  Samuel  Jessup,  and  Dr.  Eddy,  in  turn  and  for 
years  had  the  management  of  the  press,  and  at  the  same  time  were 
preaching  to  the  people  and  doing  pastoral  work  among  them, 
our  souls  were  vexed  beyond  measure  with  begging  letters  and 
begging  visits,  asking  for  employment  or  for  increase  in  wages,  or 
complaining  of  each  other,  and,  in  case  of  disappointment, 
threatening  to  leave  the  church  and  accusing  us  of  partiality  or 
severity. 

Alas,  that  although  we  have  transferred  this  odious  business 
relation  in  the  press  to  the  broad  shoulders  of  Mr.  Freyer,  whose 
nine  years  in  the  United  States  Navy  enable  him  to  carry  on  the 
business  like  clockwork,  and  whose  "  Savings  Bank  "  system  has 
won  the  admiration  and  secured  the  loyalty  of  all  his  employees, 
we  still  have  to  act  as  school  superintendents  and  paymasters  to  a 
small  army  of  helpers  and  teachers  all  over  the  land.  Happy  the 
missions,  like  Korea  and  Uganda,  where  the  people  support  their 
own  mission  churches  and  schools,  and  glad  will  be  the  day  when 
Syria  follows  in  their  train. 

This  mission  began  years  ago  by  giving  everything  gratis  and 
hiring  men  to  teach  and  preach.  Many  "  false  brethren  "  were 
thus  foisted  upon  the  mission  "  unawares  "  who  afterwards  denied 
the  faith  and  went  back  "  worse  than  before."  And  when  in  the 
period  between  i860  and  1870  the  question  of  paying  for  educa- 
tion and  church  support  was  raised,  the  missionaries  were  openly 
charged  with  robbing  the  natives  of  money  intended  for  them. 

The  news  of  the  severe  retrenchment  of  our  work  was  accom- 
panied by  a  letter  suggesting  a  contribution  from  every  mission- 
ary of  the  Board  towards  paying  the  debt  of  the  Board.  The 
letter  implied  that  some  have  already  given  to  the  extent  of  their 
ability  to  relieve  the  work  in  the  field  from  the  cut.  This  was 
true  of  us  all.  Yet  we  were  willing  to  do  and  did  even 
more. 

I  received  from  England  a  contribution  which  touched  me 
much.  Miss  Mary  P.  Bailey,  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  British 
Syrian  Mission,  wrote  me  as  follows : 


632  Marking  Time 

British  Syrian  Mission^  Wimbledon^  England,  July  7,  iBgy. 
Dear  Dr.  Jessup  : 

I  was  very  much  touched  yesterday,  by  receiving  from  an 
officer's  servant  a  gift  of  two  shillings  six  pence  for  the  American  Mis- 
sions in  Syria.     So  I  forward  it  at  once  to  you  in  English  stamps. 

The  man's  address  I  enclose.  The  gift  is  small  but  it  comes  from  a 
man  of  prayer,  and  I  believe  God  will  use  it  as  a  lever  to  raise  a  large 
sum  of  money  to  supply  your  need.  He  has  used  small,  weak  things 
before.  He  still  uses  them.  This  man  (although  only  an  officer's  groom) 
gives  six  pence  every  month  for  the  British  Syrian  Mission.  Writing 
to  him  the  other  day,  I  told  him  of  the  sad  sorrow  you  were  in  and  asked 
him  to  pray  that  your  helpful,  beautiful  work  might  not  be  reduced  for 
want  of  funds. 

We  cannot  spare  one  of  your  stations  in  Syria.  May  the  Lord  in- 
crease you  more  and  more. 

A  little  boy  was  once  present  in  a  church  in  London,  when  one  of 
our  missionary  societies  was  in  terrible  need,  and  the  cause  was  being 
earnestly  pleaded.  When  this  child  got  home,  he  said  to  his  mother, 
"  Mother,  did  you  hear  what  the  minister  asked  for,  so  very  much  money  ? 
I  am  only  a  little  boy,  but  I  would  like  to  give  him  my  silver  mug  for 
the  missionaries  :  may  I?  "  The  mother  said,  "  I  am  not  quite  sure, 
ray  boy,  if  your  father  will  like  you  to  do  that,  but  we  will  ask  him." 
The  father  gladly  agreed  and  the  mug  was  sent  to  Mr.  Bickersteth  and 
sold.  He  told  the  story  of  the  child's  love  to  his  congregation  next 
Sunday,  and  in  the  two  following  Sundays  the  whole  of  the  necessary 
money  was  raised.  "A  Uttle  child  shall  lead  them."  That  child  is 
now  a  missionary  in  India. 

May  this  be  so  with  you,  and  may  your  hearts  be  gladdened  by  your 
treasury  being  filled,  and  your  work  extended.  I  well  remember  our 
prayer-meetings  in  Beirut  in  your  drawing-room  and  long  to  join  you 
again  one  day.  Till  then,  and  while  my  Lord  keeps  me  working  at 
home, 

Believe  me. 

Yours  in  the  hope  of  His  speedy  coming, 

Mary  P.  Bailey. 
Deputation  Secretary  British  Syrian  Mission. 

The  gifts  of  the  poor,  transfigured  by  prayer,  and  winged  with 


Source  of  Missionary  Inspiration  633 

love,  will  surely  stir  up  the  more  favoured  members  of  our  churches 
to  give  hberally  and  upbraid  not. 

There  will  be  a  good  deal  of  heart  searching  and  new  dedica- 
tion of  all  to  Christ  awakened  by  this  movement  of  a  universal 
offering  of  the  seven  hundred  missionaries  of  the  Board  !  There 
will  be  much  giving  out  of  straits  and  distress,  but  none  the  less 
it  will  be  a  joyous  offering. 


For  many  years,  the  smaller  missions  in  Syria,  Palestine,  and 
Egypt,  and  the  irrepressible  "  independent "  one-man  and  one- 
woman  missions,  having  few  native  agents,  and  having  no  better 
principles  about  self-support  than  we  had  fifty  years  ago,  would 
offer  higher  salaries  than  we  with  our  120  native  agents  could 
possibly  pay,  and  hence  our  best  trained  young  men  and  women, 
naturally  desirous  of  improving  their  condition,  would  suddenly 
resign  and  leave  us  in  the  lurch.  "  Served  you  right,"  our  Korean 
missionary  brethren  would  say  to  us.  "  You  set  the  pace  and  now 
they're  only  following  your  example."  "  'Tis  true  'tis  pity,  and 
pity  'tis  'tis  true." 

But  the  experience  of  this  year,  1897,  has  helped  to  forward  the 
cause  of  self-support  and  now,  in  1909,  owing  to  the  increasing 
self-respect  of  the  Syrian  brethren,  and  the  fact  that  many  who 
have  emigrated  to  America,  Brazil,  and  Australia  are  either  re- 
turning with  ample  means  or  sending  money  to  pay  for  the  edu- 
cation of  their  kindred,  the  native  contributions  show  a  constant 
and  hopeful  increase. 

In  response  to  a  request  of  the  Board,  I  prepared  an  article  for 
the  Church  at  Home  and  Abroad  on  "  From  whence  does  the 
Church  derive  its  Missionary  Inspiration  ?"  and  argued  that  it  is 
not  from  our  church  standards  which  have  only  remote  allusions 
to  the  subject,  nor  from  spasmodic  appeals  in  public  meetings. 
The  then  recent  Lambeth  Conference  admitted  that  "  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles  do  not  allude  to  the  Church's  duty  to  the  heathen 
world."     That  conference   of  194   bishops  in  its  encyclical  letter 


634  Marking  Time 

declared  that  '•  The  cause  of  missions  is  the  cause  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  For  some  centuries,  it  may  be  said,  we  have  slum- 
bered. The  Book  of  Common  Prayer  contains  very  few  prayers 
for  missionary  work."  Why  did  not  these  good  men  add  some 
new  missionary  prayers  to  their  prayer-book  ?  And  why  does 
not  the  Presbyterian  Church  inject  a  missionary  spirit  into  its 
Confession  of  Faith  ? 

The  only  conclusion  is  that  we  must  depend  for  our  "  inspira- 
tion "  upon  the  Word  of  God,  the  commands  of  Christ,  and  the 
example  of  the  apostles.^ 

Two  epidemics  scourged  Beirut  in  the  fall,  in  addition  to  the 
typhoid, — malignant  black  smallpox  and  rabies  among  the  dogs, 
\  Scores  died  of  the  smallpox  and  patients  walked  the  streets  and 
■  rode  unmolested  by  the  police  in  the  public  carriages.  It  is  not 
;  safe  for  any  foreigner,  tourist  or  scholar,  to  come  to  this  land 
f  without  revaccinatiori,  for  smallpox  lurks  everywhere  and  nu- 
merous tourists  have  taken  it  while  here  or  soon  after  leaving. 

A  young  German  was  taken  ill  in  Beirut  with  smallpox  and 
removed  to  the  pest- house  of  St.  John's  Hospital  where  he  was 
attended  by  Dr.  Graham  and  the  deaconesses.  Delirium  set  in 
and  his  whole  body  was  black  with  the  virulent  disease.  One  day 
Dr.  Graham  entered  the  room  and  found  the  patient  a  raving 
maniac,  having  stripped  off  all  his  clothing.  He  sprang  like  a 
tiger  upon  Dr.  Graham,  caught  him  by  the  throat  and  hurled  him 
to  the  floor.  Then  followed  a  terrific  struggle,  and  the  doctor 
succeeded  at  length  in  throwing  him  off,  and  calling  for  help. 
He  was  smeared  with  blood  but  made  out  to  bind  the  poor  suf- 
ferer, who  soon  expired.  The  doctor's  account  of  that  loathsome 
wrestling  match  almost  curdles  one's  blood.  He  did  not  contract 
the  disease,  however,  and  his  example  must  have  had  a  wholesome 
influence  upon  his  medical  pupils  who  were  cognizant  of  the  facts. 
The  epidemic  of  rabies  among  the  street  dogs,  for  the  first  time 
in  my  knowledge,  alarmed  the  Moslems.  They  dread  to  kill  a 
dog.     Dogs  are  the  scavengers,  living  in  colonies  in  the  streets 

^  Since  this  was  written,  the  Presbyterian  Confession  has  been  "  re- 
vised," and  a  better  showing  given  to  the  work  of  missions. 


Mad  Dog  I  635 

and  making  night  hideous  with  their  howHng.  But  several  Mos- 
lems were  bitten  by  a  rabid  dog  and  were  hurried  to  the  Pasteur 
Institute  in  Constantinople.  Other  dogs  had  been  bitten.  Some-' 
thing  must  be  done.  The  example  of  the  English  in  Alexandria, 
who  had  annihilated  the  whole  dog  population,  was  resorted  to. 
The  edict  went  forth  and  in  one  week  1,300  dogs  were  poisoned 
or  shot,  and  were  buried  a  mile  distant  in  the  sands.  For  once, 
Beirut  was  quiet  at  night.  The  Moslems  felt  lonely.  Two  years 
after,  they  sent  to  Sidon  and  Tripoli  and  imported  two  sloop- 
loads  of  "  curs  of  low  degree  "  and  repopulated  the  deserted 
streets,  and  now  the  dogs  own  the  city  once  more,  and  are  in- 
creasing with  fearful  rapidity. 


A  Moslem  convert,  Naamet  Ullah,  who  was  converted  in  1895, 
came  to  Beirut  in  the  spring.  He  was  arrested,  thrown  into  the 
army  and  wrote  me  a  letter  from  the  military  barracks.  He  was 
taken  with  his  regiment  to  Hauran  where  he  deserted,  reappeared 
in  Beirut,  thence  to  Tripoli,  where  he  took  ship  to  Egypt  and 
disappeared  from  view. 

Three  Maronite  priests  and  one  Coptic  monk  called  at  different 
times  and  offered  to  become  Protestants  on  condition  that  their 
expenses  be  paid  to  America.  They  were  treated  kindly,  but  we 
informed  them  that  we  were  not  an  emigration  agency,  and  tried 
to  convince  them  of  the  sin  of  such  a  hypocritical  profession.  It 
is  to  be  taken  for  granted  that  the  most  hopeless,  spiritually,  of 
all  the  Orientals  are  the  priests  and  monks.  Their  consciences 
seem  seared  as  if  with  a  hot  iron. 

In  November  I  mailed  to  America  the  manuscript  of  the  life 
of  Kamil  to  which  allusion  has  already  been  made.  I  cannot  but 
regret  that  the  dear  young  man  requested  me  to  return  to  him 
the  original  of  all  his  Arabic  journals  and  the  correspondence  with 
his  father.  Providentially  I  had  translated  them  all  into  English, 
and  it  would  be  possible  to  retranslate  them  into  the  original 
Arabic,  but  the  aroma  of  his  beautiful  style  could  not  be  repro- 
duced.    All  those  manuscripts  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Turkish 


636  Marking  Time 

soldiers  in  Bussorah  and  whether  they  were  kept  or  destroyed 
cannot  be  ascertained. 

'  In  August  Naoom  Pasha,  Governor  of  Lebanon,  was  reap- 
pointed for  five  years.  He  was  a  good  governor.  A  deputation 
of  five  members  of  our  mission  called  upon  him  and  congratulated 
him  on  his  reappointment.  He  was  most  courteous  and  showed 
us  through  all  the  apartments  of  the  B'teddin  palace. 

In  October  I  received  a  letter  from  Chicago  inquiring  about  Mr. 
Ibrahim  Khairullah,  the  Syrian,  who  was  attempting  to  propagate 
Babism  in  the  United  States.  I  sent  to  Mr.  Stowella  "  Life  of  Mr. 
Ibrahim  Khairullah,"  written  by  his  relative  and  intimate  friend  in 
Beirut.  I  give  here  a  copy  of  my  letter,  but  the  "  Memoir  "  is 
not  of  sufficient  value  to  be  reproduced.  His  temporary  success 
in  the  occult  art  business  is  only  another  instance  of  the  gullibil- 
ity of  human  nature.  Three  years  later  I  visited  Abbas  Effendi 
in  Haifa  and  an  account  of  the  interview  was  published  in  the 
Outlook  of  June  22,  1901.  A  recent  book  by  M.  H.  Phelps  of 
New  York,  1904,  gives  a  very  fair  account  of  this  Persian  bubble* 
showing  that  it  is  nothing  new  in  religious  history  but  a  revamp 
of  ancient  Pantheistic  theories.  Mr.  Phelps'  summary  of  Abbas 
Effendi's  teaching  as  "  Love  to  God  and  Man  "  shows  it  to  be  as 
old  as  Christ  and  Moses.  It  is  the  essence  of  New  Testament 
ethics,  and  there  are  millions  of  Christians  to-day  living  according 
to  this  standard  as  far  as  they  can  by  the  aid  of  divine  grace.  Abbas 
Effendi  is  almost  a  Christian.  But  his  latitudinarian  views  that  all 
men,  pagans,  idolaters,  and  all  are  accepted  of  God,  would  seem  to 
make  any  attempt  to  propagate  Babism  a  work  of  supererogation. 

The  letter  to  Mr.  Stowell  is  as  follows  : 

"  I  received  yours  of  September  24th  in  due  time,  and  last 
week  sent  your  letter  to  a  reliable  person  in  Beirut  who  is  a  rela- 
tive of  the  man  you  mention.  It  is  evident  that  the  man  has 
been  at  his  wit's  end  to  know  how  to  make  a  living  and  is  now 
trying  a  new  religion.  The  enclosed  brief  chronicle  you  can  rely 
upon  as  being  correct. 

"  The  book  you  speak  of  as  ♦  Bab  el  Din,'  Revelation  from  the 


The  Babite  Bubble  637 

East,  is  either  that  mongrel  mass  of  stuff  written  by  the  Greek 
priest,  Christofory  Jebara,  for  the  World's  ParHament  of  Religions, 
in  which  the  author  would  bring  about  a  union  between  Chris- 
tianity and  Islam  by  our  all  becoming  Moslems  ;  or  some  new 
rehash  of  Professor  Browne  of  Cambridge,  England,  on  the 
'  Episode  of  the  Bab,'  the  Persian  delusion  whose  head  man» 
Beha-uUah  in  Acre  claimed  to  be  an  incarnation  of  God  and  on 
his  death  a  few  years  ago  his  son.  Abbas  Effendi,  succeeded  him 
and  is  running  the  '  incarnation  '  fraud  for  all  that  it  is  worth,  and 
that  is  worth  a  good  deal,  as  pilgrims  constantly  come  from  the 
Babite  sect  in  Persia  and  bring  their  offerings  of  money  with 
great  liberality. 

"  Such  men  as  Jebara  and  the  Babites  of  Persia  turn  up  now  and 
then  in  the  East, '  go  up  like  a  rocket  and  down  like  the  stick.' 
The  priest  Jebara  made  no  converts  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  unless 
Mr.  KhairuUah  be  one.  The  fact  is  there  was  nothing  to  be  con- 
verted to.     You  can't  love  or  pray  to  a  mere  negation. 

"  The  Babite  movement  in  Persia  started  out  as  an  attempt  at  a 
reform  of  Islam  and  ended  by  the  leader  claiming  to  be  divine 
and  invulnerable  in  battle,  but  when  he  died,  another  was  found 
ready  to  succeed  to  his  pretensions. 

"  They  teach  a  strange  mixture  of  truth  and  error,  of  extreme 
liberality  and  unscrupulous  persecution  of  those  obnoxious  to 
them.  I  had  a  friend  a  few  years  ago,  a  learned  Mohammedan  of 
Bagdad,  who  was  feeling  his  way  to  Christianity.  His  father,  a 
wealthy  man,  died  when  he  was  young,  and  his  uncle,  a  Babite, 
determined  to  train  up  the  lad  as  a  Babite.  But  the  boy  as  he 
grew  up  refused  to  accept  Babism.  The  uncle  then  robbed  him 
of  his  property  and  drove  him  out  of  Bagdad.  A  few  years  ago 
he  came  here,  professed  Christianity,  and  was  baptized  in  Alex- 
andria, Egypt.  While  here,  he  went  down  to  Acre  to  visit  one 
of  the  Babites  whom  he  had  formerly  known.  After  remaining 
there  a  few  days,  he  found  out  that  his  uncle  had  written  to  Acre 
about  him  and  one  night  he  received  word  that  his  life  was  in 
danger  if  he  stayed  through  the  night  and  he  escaped  to  Beirut  in 
great  terror. 


638  Marking  Time 

"  Some  months  ago,  an  elderly  Persian  Babite  called  at  our  press 
in  Beirut,  and  some  time  after  brought  a  beautiful  gilt  motto  on  a 
large  wall  card  which  he  gave  us.  He  said  he  prayed  to  that 
motto  for  twelve  years,  and  now,  after  reading  the  Bible,  he  has 
decided  to  give  up  such  folly,  (On  the  card  was  written  in 
Arabic  '  O  glory  of  the  most  glorious,' — the  mystic  prayer  of 
the  Babites.) 

"  The  Greek  Jebara  wants  the  Moslem  lion  and  the  Christian 
Iamb  to  lie  down  together,  only  the  lamb  must  be  inside  the  lion. 

"  The  Babites  want  all  to  become  lambs,  even  if  they  have  to  use 
force  to  make  them  so.  Their  blasphemous  claim  that  the  Acre 
sheikh  is  God  is  quite  enough  to  condemn  them. 

"  I  earnestly  pray  that  Mr.  Khairullah  may  be  led  by  God's  Spirit 
back  to  the  pure  faith  of  his  youth  when  he  covenanted  to  take 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  his  Saviour. 

"  It  is  easy  to  be  specious  and  plausible  but  secret  religious  sects 
are  dangerous  and  secret  propagandism  which  you  say  is  his 
method,  is  a  confession  of  weakness.  Truth  loves  the  light  and 
if  the  '  Bab  el  Din '  is  afraid  of  the  light  and  of  open  discussion, 
it  should  be  avoided  by  every  God-fearing  man  and  woman. 

"  We  have  two  secret  religions  in  Syria,  that  of  the  Druses  and 
the  Nusairiyeh,  both  bound  to  secrecy  by  awful  oaths  and  impre- 
cations. Our  divine  Lord  in  the  third  chapter  of  John  says, '  Men 
love  darkness  rather  than  light  because  their  deeds  are  evil.' 
'  But  he  that  doeth  truth  cometh  to  the  light  that  his  deeds  may 
be  manifest  that  they  are  wrought  in  God.' 

"  If  a  Druse  or  Nusairy  leaves  his  sect,  his  life  is  regarded  as 
forfeited. 

"  American  Christians  believe  that  Christ  is  the  Light  of  the 
World.  The  Lord  deliver  them  from  the  delirious  blasphemies  of 
the  Asiastics  who  claim  to  be  God  Himself !  " 

In  reply  to  a  letter  from  Dr.  Paul  Carus,  I  wrote  the  following : 
"  I  owe  you  an  apology  for  so  long  delaying  in  acknowledging 

the  receipt  of  the  '  edition  de  luxe  '  of  the  secretary's  report  on 

the  Religious  Parliament  Extension. 


Parliament  of  Religions  and  Islam  639 

"  You  request  an  expression  '  of  your  views  of  the  outlook  of 
the  rehgious  life  as  it  appears  to  you  both  in  your  own  sphere 
and  the  world  at  large.' 

"  The  Parliament  had  little  influence  on  the  public  mind  in 
Western  Asia.  No  Mohammedan  from  this  part  of  the  globe  at- 
tended it,  and  the  Greek  archimandrite  who  read  a  paper,  repre- 
sented no  one  but  himself  in  advocating  a  union  of  Christianity 
and  Islam  by  surrendering  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  former. 

"  The  Mohammedans  would  not  go  and  had  they  gone  they 
would  have  been  prohibited  from  publishing  any  report  on  their 
return. 

"  Liberty  of  the  press  on  religious  questions  is  unknown  in  this 
empire,  and  any  journal  which  should  criticize  Islam  or  the  Koran 
would  be  summarily  suppressed. 

"  The  events  of  the  past  two  years,  whatsoever  their  cause, 
have  brought  out  into  bold  relief  the  worst  features  of  an  exclusive 
and  uncompromising  religious  system. 

"  Murders,  robberies,  rapes,  spoliation,  the  abduction  of  women 
and  girls,  and  enforced  apostasy  from  Christianity  have  been 
sanctioned  not  only  by  the  officials  of  the  dominant  faith,  but  by 
a  responsive  awakening  of  popular  fanaticism. 

"  Thoughtful  men  who  are  restless  under  the  suppression  of 
free  thought  are  compelled  to  be  silent  and  cry  to  God  for  relief. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  public  opinion.  The  press  simply 
echoes  the  views  of  the  local  censor,  and  the  censor,  the  views  of 
the  central  authority. 

"  With  regard  to  the  Maronite,  Orthodox  Greek,  and  Papal 
Greek  sects  of  Syria,  there  is  little  to  hope  for  from  the  higher 
ecclesiastics.  One  prominent  patriarch  purchased  his  chair  by 
bribes,  amounting,  it  is  publicly  asserted,  to  ten  thousand  pounds. 

"  A  notable  exception  to  the  simony  intrigue  and  avarice  of  the 
higher  ecclesiastics  is  the  Orthodox  Greek  Bishop  of  Hums  (the 
ancient  Emesa),  who  has  placed  the  Bible  in  all  his  schools  where 
twelve  hundred  children  are  taught  and  is  labouring  efficiently  to 
enlighten  and  elevate  his  people. 

"  The  influence  of  Protestant  education  and  literature  on  the 


640  Marking  Time 

rank  and  file  of  the  people  is  palpable  on  every  side.  The  rising 
generation  of  all  sects  is  better  informed,  more  liberal  and 
tolerant,  than  the  past.  Schools  which  have  been  founded  to 
keep  out  the  light  have  let  it  in.  Public  sentiment  with  regard 
to  the  honour  and  dignity  of  woman  has  undergone  a  wonderful 
change.  The  veil  continues  and  the  hareem  seclusion  continues, 
but  the  veiled  and  secluded  have  begun  to  think  for  themselves. 

"  Mohammedan  young  men  will  no  longer  consent  to  marry 
girls  they  have  never  seen,  but  now  in  Beirut,  visit  them  and  drive 
out  with  them  on  the  public  highways  with  the  mothers  as 
chaperones. 

"  A  visit  to  the  homes  of  educated  Christian  young  women  in 
Syria  is  an  impressive  object-lesson  as  to  the  value  of  a  Christian 
education  for  girls.  Their  houses  are  well  ordered,  tidy,  cheer- 
ful, and  happy.  The  more  attractive  features  of  Oriental  hos- 
pitality have  a  new  charm  in  these  enlightened  Christian  families* 

"  The  general  religious  outlook  in  the  empire  is  hopeful,  not- 
withstanding the  dreadful  Armenian  massacres  of  the  past  two 
years.  The  healing  touch  of  the  divine  hand  and  the  awakening 
tones  of  the  divine  voice  have  brought  life  and  thoughtfulness 
and  spiritual  quickening,  whereas  before  the  massacres  all  was 
apathy  and  death.  God's  judgments,  instead  of  hardening,  have 
softened  men's  hearts.  In  Anatolia  the  schools  are  crowded  with 
pupils  and  the  churches  cannot  contain  the  thronging  worshippers. 
Old  enemies  have  become  friends  of  the  Gospel.  The  very 
means  used  for  the  extermination  of  gospel  light  have  ended  in 
its  wider  dissemination.  The  Gregorian  Armenian  hierarchy  have 
become  the  friends  of  the  Protestant  missionaries.  As  the 
massacres  of  i860  in  Syria  broke  up  the  fallow  ground  and  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  new  sowing  of  the  gospel  seed,  so  the 
events  of  1 895-1 896  are  proving  to  have  turned  out  for  the 
furtherance  of  the  Gospel. 

"  Taking  a  wider  view  of  religious  thought  in  the  Eastern 
world,  the  truth  is  not  lost  and  will  not  lose  by  the  •  brotherly 
exchange  of  thought '  that  is  now  more  and  more  pervading  the 
world.     Insincere   and   designing  men  may  deceive  '  all  of  their 


Mission  Statistics  in  1897  641 

countrymen  some  of  the  time,  and  some  of  them  all  of  the  time ; 
but  they  cannot  cheat  all  men  always.' 

"  Truth  is  patient,  God  is  patient.  It  can  afford  to  be  conde- 
scending though  misunderstood,  and  generous  though  it  be  called 
weak,  but  it  is  never  impatient  for  the  harvest  before  the  seed  has 
had  time  to  grow. 

"  Western  Asia,  India,  China  and  Japan  may  be  misled  for  a 
time  by  those  who  assure  them  in  obscure  and  misty  phrase  that 
the  citadel  of  Christian  truth  is  fallen  forever;  but  when  the 
mists  have  cleared  away,  the  shining  battlements  will '  look  forth, 
bright  as  the  morning,  fair  as  the  moon,  clear  as  the  sun,  and  ter- 
rible as  an  army  with  banners.' 

"  In  diplomacy,  nothing  baffles  cunning  like  the  frankness  of 
simple  truth,  and  in  the  sphere  of  religion,  nothing  defeats  the 
sophistries  of  Asiatic  heathenism  and  the  assumption  of  Islam  like 
the  plain  preaching  of  salvation  through  Christ  and  Him  crucified." 

The  missionary  statistics  for  the  year  1 897  were  as  follows : 
The  whole  number  of  children  in  Protestant  schools  in  Syria 

and  Palestine  is  about   17,000,  of  whom  at  least  8,000  are  girls. 

Enrolled  Protestants  as  a  civil  sect,  7,000. 

American  Press,  Beirut 

Number  of  publications  on  press  catalogue       .  60 1 

Publications  issued  in  1896  and  1897     .     .     .  282,000 

Pages  printed  from  the  first 578,000,000 

Syrian  Protestant  College,  Beirut 
1896-1897,  whole  number  of  students 309 

Graduates  to  date,  collegiate 164 

"  **     "      medical 163 

"  "     "     pharmaceutical 53 

380 

Number  of  professors  and  instructors 25 

Protestant  orphanages  in  Syria  and  Palestine 5 

Protestant  hospitals  and  dispensaries  in  Syria  and  Palestine,  36 


642  Marking  Time 

Hospitals  in  Beirut 
Protestant,  St.  John's. 
Roman  Catholic,  St.  Joseph's. 
Orthodox  Greek,  St.  George's. 
Turkish  military  hospital. 
Municipality  hospital. 

Arabic  Journals  in  Beirut 

Protestant 4 

Orthodox  Greek 2 

Turkish  official i 

Roman  Catholic 4 

Mohammedan 2 

13 

A  New  York  gentleman  wrote  asking  me  to  give  him  an  ac- 
count of  all  the  missionary  work  and  "  societies  of  a  political 
character  "  at  work  in  Turkey.  I  replied,  giving  an  account  of 
the  various  missions  but  stated  that,  "  I  know  of  no  political 
societies  but  the  order  of  Jesuits.  All  the  Americans  in  Turkey, 
an  empire  of  absolute  despotism,  keep  entirely  aloof  from  political 
questions.  In  our  published  books  and  periodicals  we  cannot 
mention  politics.  The  censorship  of  the  press  is  more  severe  than 
in  Russia.  Our  object  is  to  introduce  light,  to  educate  the  young, 
to  care  for  the  sick  and  suffering,  publish  good  and  useful  books, 
and  let  the  government  alone." 

In  September,  my  daughter,  Ethel  Hyde  Jessup,  was  married 
in  Aleih,  Mount  Lebanon,  to  Franklin  T.  Moore,  M.D.,  of  the 
Syrian  Protestant  College. 

In  October  Miss  Ellen  Law  was  obliged  to  leave  for  America 
on  account  of  her  health  and  my  daughter  Anna  took  her  place 
for  a  year  and  a  half. 

Rev.  Messrs.  Hoskins  and  Hardin  returned  from  America,  the 
former  in  October  and  the  latter  in  December. 

1898 — March  13th  we  had  a  visit  from  President  Angell,  United 
States  Minister  to  Constantinople. 


Minister  Angell's  Visit  643 

That  visit  was  a  benediction  to  us  all,  nationally,  intellectually, 
and  spiritually.  He  arrived  with  Mrs.  Angell  on  Sunday  morning, 
March  13th,  on  the  steamship  A  Her,  which  had  been  lying  at 
Jaffa,  as  its  excursion  tourists  had  gone  up  to  Jerusalem.  A  pro- 
tracted gale  of  wind  had  prevented  the  usual  steamer  from  com- 
munication with  Jaffa  and  consequently  the  volume  of  detained 
travellers  who  had  returned  from  Jerusalem  to  Jaffa  was  very 
great,  and  all  the  hotels  were  crowded.  Dr.  Angell,  Mr.  Isidor 
Straus  of  New  York,  and  about  twenty  others  tried  to  catch 
English  and  Egyptian  steamers  which  came  to  Jaffa  to  take  them 
to  Beirut,  but  in  vain.  At  length  the  captain  of  the  AZ/tr  having 
extra  time  on  his  hands,  agreed  to  bring  the  party  to  Beirut  for 
;^i,ooo.  They  arrived  on  Sunday  morning.  I  preached  at  the 
college  in  Arabic  that  morning  at  nine  o'clock  and  just  as  the 
last  bell  was  ringing  for  the  service,  and  Dr.  Bliss  and  I  were 
entering  the  chapel  door,  the  carriage  drove  by  with  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Angell,  and  the  kavass  of  the  United  States  consul  on  the  box. 
We  bade  them  welcome. 

I  recalled  the  time  when,  at  Dr.  Angell's  invitation,  I  addressed 
the  students  at  Ann  Arbor  University.  He  was  in  excellent 
health  and  spirits.  We  found  that  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Angell  and 
their  party  were  booked  for  Baalbec  and  Damascus  the  next 
morning,  Monday,  and  must  return  and  sail  for  Constantinople  on 
Saturday. 

At  3 :  30  p.  M,  after  seeing  other  parts  of  the  work  he  came  to 
the  Arabic  Sunday-school,  accompanied  by  the  United  States 
consul  and  his  kavasses,  and  made  a  brief  address  to  the  250 
children  urging  them  to  the  study  of  God's  word  and  to  trust  in 
Christ  as  their  Saviour.  It  was  delightful  to  hear  his  testimony 
to  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 

On  Sunday  evening  Dr.  Angell  made  an  address  to  the  college 
students  on  "  Intellectual,  Moral,  and  Spiritual  Culture"  which 
was  a  most  impressive  and  beautiful  address  and  will  never  be 
forgotten  by  those  who  heard  it,  I  took  careful  notes  and  on 
Monday  translated  it  all  into  Arabic,  On  Friday  it  was  published 
in  our  weekly  Neshrah  and  I  had  half  a  dozen  copies  struck  off  in 


644  Marking  Time 

gilt  letters  which  I  presented  to  him  on  Friday  evening,  when 
Mrs.  Bliss  gave  a  reception  to  all  the  American  community  for 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Angell. 

On  Saturday  morning  before  leaving  on  the  French  steamer  for 
Constantinople,  he  visited  the  press  and  went  through  all  its  de- 
partments and  I  then  went  down  with  him  to  the  wharf.  His 
visit  was  brief  but  he  manifested  the  deepest  interest  in  all  de- 
partments of  the  work. 

We  said  little  to  him  about  the  United  States  claims  against 
Turkey  for  indemnity  for  losses  during  the  massacres.  His  hands 
are  tied  by  the  diversion  of  our  government's  attention  to  Spain 
and  Cuba.  England  can  carry  on  half  a  dozen  wars  in  different 
parts  of  the  world  and  grapple  with  the  knottiest  diplomatic  ques- 
tions all  at  one  and  the  same  time.  Our  government,  with  its 
frequent  changes  of  administration  and  diplomatic  officials,  seems 
to  be  able  to  deal  with  only  one  question  at  a  time.  Dr.  Angell 
evidently  accepted  this  post  at  great  sacrifice,  in  order  to  do 
what  others  had  failed  to  do,  and  now  finds  himself  unsupported. 
(Mr.  McKinley  evidently  needs  a  Secretary  of  State  able  to  deal 
with  foreign  questions  with  promptness  and  vigour.) 

President  Angell  was  succeeded  by  the  Hon.  Oscar  Straus  of 
New  York  whose  great  ability,  loyal  devotion  to  his  country's 
honour,  and  conscientious  attention  to  business  gave  him  the 
confidence  of  his  countrymen  and  great  influence  with  the  Sultan 
and  his  ministers. 

Our  consul,  Colonel  Doyle,  was  now  removed  and  in  his  place 
President  McKinley  appointed  Mr.  G.  Bie  Ravendal  who  has 
proved  himself  an  efficient  business  man  and  a  loyal  American  in 
full  sympathy  with  the  work  done  by  his  fellow  citizens  in  Syria. 
This  consulate,  having  become  in  1906  a  consulate-general,  will 
now  have  greater  influence  and  do  better  work  for  American  com- 
mercial interests  in  the  East. 

In  April,  Mr.  A.  Forder,  an  independent  missionary,  attempted 
to  penetrate  Arabia  from  the  north  by  the  way  of  Bashan  and 


Foolish  as  Doves  645 

Moab.  He  secured  seven  hundred  Arabic  New  Testaments  from 
our  press  and  had  them  bound  in  special  red  morocco  binding, 
'with  broad  flaps,  in  imitation  of  the  Arab  binding  in  Cairo  and 
Damascus.  The  box  was  sent  to  Damascus  and  he  set  out  from 
Jerusalem  with  his  cameleers,  intending  to  pick  up  the  box  in  or 
near  Damascus,  so  as  not  to  give  the  Turks  an  idea  that  he  was  a 
military  spy  or  correspondent,  but  unhappily  he  fell  from  his 
camel  near  Nablus  and  broke  his  leg.  In  May  he  was  still  de- 
tained there  with  his  Danish  companion  until  it  was  too  late  to 
undertake  the  trip  that  year.  On  a  previous  trip  he  was  robbed 
so  often  that  one  wonders  what  he  had  left  to  live  on  in  a  region 
where,  for  two  days,  he  found  neither  food  nor  water.  No  one 
could  question  his  courage  and  pluck  and  some  day  Christian 
men  may  get  into  Central  Arabia.  But  the  new  Mecca  railroad, 
and  the  jealousy  of  all  European  influence  in  that  great  peninsula, 
will  make  it  difficult  for  any  one  hereafter  to  enter  Arabia  from 
the  north  or  west.  The  vulnerable  sides  are  the  east  and  south, 
and  for  the  reason  that  where  the  spirit  of  British  rule  prevails 
there  is  liberty.  And  yet,  there  was  once  a  foreign  young  woman 
of  comely  appearance,  who  seriously  proposed  making  a  trip  to 
Arabia  by  that  robber-infested  route  where  every  man  claims  the 
ancestral  right  to  rob  every  stranger  he  meets,  taking  with  her 
only  a  woman  attendant  and  a  cameleer.  It  was  with  great  diffi- 
culty that  we  dissuaded  her.  Had  she  tried  to  do  it,  we  should 
have  felt  called  upon  to  ask  the  interposition  of  the  consul.  It  is 
a  pity  that  deep  piety  and  personal  loveliness  should  sometimes 
be  hnked  to  an  utter  want  of  common  sense.  Faith  sometimes 
becomes  spasmodic  with  high  nervous  exaltation.  It  then  be- 
comes unreasoning,  harmful  as  serpents,  and  foolish  as  doves. 
Believing  itself  inspired,  it  will  take  no  advice  and  will  sacrifice 
all  the  capacity  for  usefulness  attained  by  long  years  of  prepara- 
tion, study  and  spiritual  equipment  for  the  sake  of  making  one 
grand  leap  into  certain  destruction  with  no  possible  thought  of 
any  corresponding  or  compensating  good.  I  have  often  said  to 
one  of  these  "  inspired  "  friends,  "  Be  careful,  protect  your  head 
from  the  sun ;  if  you  take  that  journey,  take  at  least  some  proper 


646  Marking  Time 

food  and  clothing."  "  Thank  you,"  they  would  say,  "  we  do  not 
need  these  worldly  wise  precautions  for  we  can  trust  in  the  Lord 
who  has  called  us."  So  away  they  went.  Not  long  after  there 
was  a  funeral — a  life  thrown  away  that  might  have  been  a  bless- 
ing to  many.  It  only  made  others  say,  •'  What  a  fool  not  to  take 
advice  !  "  Dr.  S.  H.  Cox,  of  Brooklyn,  was  told  by  a  ranting 
Mormon  apostle,  "  God  does  not  need  your  learning ! "  He 
replied,  "  God  does  not  need  your  ignorance ! " 

The  news  of  war  with  Spain  made  a  great  stir  in  this  land. 
The  Moslems  and  Jews  could  not  say  enough  in  praise  of 
America.  They  recalled  the  days  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella, 
when  Moslem  power  was  crushed  in  Spain  and  when  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  Jews  were  expelled  from  Spain  and  found  refuge  in 
North  Africa,  Constantinople,  Salonica,  Smyrna,  and  Aleppo, 
And  in  the  year  1906,  the  Jews  are  rejoicing  that  a  granddaughter 
of  a  Jew  has  become  Queen  of  Spain.^ 

I  recalled  April,  1861,  when  we  heard  of  the  firing  on  Fort 
Sumter  and  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War,  when  we  all  felt  like 
going  home  to  defend  the  flag.  The  Cuban  War  was  a  smaller 
matter  and  we  had  no  fear  of  the  result,  but  we  apprehended 
financial  disorder  and  the  crippling  of  the  Board's  resources. 

Happily  the  war  was  brief  and  the  only  effect  from  a  mission- 
ary standpoint  was  opening  the  millions  of  Cuba,  Porto  Rico, 
and  the  Philippines  to  the  enlightenment  of  Protestant  Chris- 
tianity. 

On  March  17th  my  very  dear  friend  and  classmate.  Dr. 
Charles  S.  Robinson,  of  New  York,  arrived  on  the  Alter.  The 
ship  only  remained  twelve  hours.  I  went  on  board  in  a  rough 
sea  and  a  pouring  rain  to  bring  him  ashore. 

It  seems  to  us  residents  in  Syria  a  great  shame  that  tourists  in 
the  Holy  Land  should  be  "  hustled  "  through  in  such  a  hurry  that 
they  can  only  gain  the  most  superficial  idea  of  the  land  and  its 
people. 

^  We  may  add  that  in  1907,  the  Jews  were  again  glad  to  hear  that  a 
Jew  had  been  elected  mayor  of  Rome. 


A  Presbytery  Meeting  647 

On  May  2d  the  Lebanon  Presbytery  met  in  Beirut ;  eight 
churches  were  represented  by  fifteen  Syrian  and  seven  American 
members.  Nine  subjects  were  discussed  and  it  was  the  most 
thoroughly  spiritual  assembly  we  have  ever  known  in  Syria.  A 
report  was  given  by  Dr.  S.  Jessup  of  the  religious  conference  in 
February  conducted  by  Dr.  Elder  Gumming  and  Rev.  Messrs. 
Luce  and  Paynter,  and  one  of  the  Syrian  brethren  gave  an  ac- 
count of  his  visit  to  Mildmay  and  Keswick  and  the  new  appre- 
hension he  gained  of  the  spiritual  life.  Meetings  were  held  with 
the  children,  a  social  gathering  for  the  local  congregation,  and  a 
joint  communion  season.  It  was  altogether  a  model  meeting  of 
presbytery,  a  minimum  of  ecclesiastical  routine  and  a  maximum 
of  uplifting  spiritual  conference  on  religious  and  missionary  sub- 
jects. 

In  May,  our  able  and  accomplished  consul-general,  Charles  M. 
Dickinson,  of  Constantinople,  visited  Syria  and  Palestine  and 
presented  an  elaborate  report  to  the  government  at  Washington 
of  the  so-called  Spaffordite  colony  in  Jerusalem.  Any  persons 
desirous  of  knowing  the  facts  with  regard  to  that  phase  of  relig- 
ious communism  should  consult  the  documents  in  the  State 
Department. 

Two  somewhat  remarkable  Christian  women  passed  away  in 
the  months  of  February  and  May,  Mrs.  Giles  Montgomery, 
formerly  of  Central  Turkey,  and  Mrs.  Hannah  Korany,  a  Syrian 
lady  from  Kefr  Shima,  near  Beirut.  Mrs.  Montgomery  came  out 
with  her  husband  in  1863  and  laboured  for  thirty-five  years  in 
Marash  and  Adana.  She  was  a  woman  of  rare  Christian  char- 
acter, one  of  those  bright,  radiant  spirits  who  make  the  Christian 
life  so  attractive.  She  had  long  struggled  with  that  fell  disease, 
consumption,  and  was  the  guest  and  patient  of  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Graham,  who  felt  it  a  benediction  to  have  her  in  their  home.  It 
was  touching  to  see  a  little  Armenian  girl  laying  white  flowers  on 
her  grave — she  was  baptized  by  Mr.  Montgomery  and  narrowly 
escaped  being  carried  ofTby  the  Turks  during  the  massacres  and 


648  Marking  Time 

came  here  to  our  seminary  as  a  refuge.  Mrs.  Montgomery  was 
a  missionary  of  the  American  Board,  which  supported  the  Syrian 
Mission  until  1870,  and  four  former  missionaries  of  that  Board, 
Dr.  W.  W.  Eddy,  Dr.  Daniel  Bliss,  Rev.  W.  Bird,  and  Rev.  H.  H. 
Jessup  conducted  the  funeral  services. 

Mrs,  Korany  was  educated,  as  was  her  mother  before  her,  in 
the  Beirut  Girls'  Seminary,  and,  after  teaching  for  a  time,  went 
with  her  husband  to  the  Chicago  World's  Fair  in  1893  and  re- 
mained in  America  several  years,  engaged  in  the  sale  of  Syrian 
fabrics  and  in  lecturing  on  Syrian  themes  by  invitation  of  a  so- 
ciety of  American  ladies.  The  American  climate  prostrated  her 
and  she  was  obliged  to  flee  to  milder  climes,  struggling  like  Mrs. 
Montgomery  with  consumption.  I  met  her  at  Cairo  and  Helouan 
in  the  winter  of  1 896-1897.  Her  mind  seemed  to  grow  brighter 
as  her  body  grew  weaker  under  the  relentless  progress  of  the  dis- 
ease. She  had  fine  conversational  powers  and  wrote  English 
with  great  facility  and  force.  At  length  she  returned  to  her 
home,  six  miles  from  Beirut,  where  a  loving  father  and  mother 
watched  over  her.  But  such  is  the  dread  of  the  Syrian  people  of 
this  malady  that  no  one  would  come  near  the  house.  No  woman 
would  do  washing  or  baking  or  any  service  for  the  family.  The 
American  ladies,  her  former  teachers,  and  Miss  C.  Thompson  of 
the  British  Syrian  Mission  were  frequent  in  their  visits  and  I  was 
greatly  comforted  to  hear  her  words  of  faith  and  hope  as  I  sat 
by  her  dying  bed. 

She  died  May  6th,  and  the  funeral  was  an  impressive  scene.  It 
is  the  custom  in  Lebanon  villages  for  the  women  to  give  them- 
selves up  to  fanatical  grief,  wailing,  screaming,  and  often  throw- 
ing themselves  upon  the  body  and  trying  to  prevent  its  removal. 
But  in  this  Christian  home  there  was  perfect  silence,  the  mother, 
Im  Selim,  showing  a  Christian  resignation  and  quiet  self-control 
which  filled  the  village  women  with  astonishment.  It  was  an  ob- 
ject-lesson which  they  will  not  soon  forget. 

About  that  time  a  remarkable  conversion  took  place  in  the 
Syrian  Protestant  College.     A  Jewish  student,  son  of  a  prosper- 


Well-Meant  Counsel  649 

ous  Hebrew  family,  declared  himself  a  Christian  and  began  at 
once  the  most  earnest  and  intense  labours  for  the  conversion  of 
all  his  fellow  students.  He  walked  with  them,  talked  with  them, 
and  prayed  with  them  and  spoke  in  the  college  prayer-meetings 
and  in  the  church  meetings  in  town.  He  was  most  fearless  and 
resolute  in  trying  to  bring  all  around  him  to  Christ.  His  friends 
were  dismayed  and  his  father  threatened  to  disinherit  him.  He 
applied  for  baptism  and  communion  in  the  Arabic  Evangelical 
Church  and  a  day  was  appointed  to  receive  him.  But  he  disap- 
peared suddenly — we  heard  of  him  afterwards  in  Port  Said  and 
later  as  marching  in  the  Salvation  Army  procession  in  London. 

I  have  known  several  similar  cases  of  sudden  religious  enthu- 
siasm, great  promise  for  usefulness,  which  have  afterwards  with- 
ered away,  not  having  depth  of  root  or  stability.  Yet  this  young 
man  may  have  found  his  proper  sphere  in  the  Salvation  Army. 

Our  good  secretary,  Dr.  Brown,  was  convinced  that  the  mis- 
sionaries should  do  more  itinerating  work,  and  administered  a 
gentle  rebuke  to  the  tendency  among  our  number  to  yield  to  the  ^r 
claims  of  confining  literary  and  educational  work.  As  usual,  the 
appeal  wrought  most  powerfully  upon  those  least  able  to  respond 
to  it.  We  all  felt,  even  those  of  us  tied  down  to  one  place  by 
teaching  and  literary  work,  that  more  should  be  done  to  reach  the 
outlying  districts  and  to  lead  to  a  personal  decision  the  hundreds 
of  youths  in  our  schools.  One  member  of  the  mission,  my  good 
brother  Samuel,  of  Sidon,  was  so  wrought  upon  by  the  stirring 
appeal  that  he  nearly  sacrificed  his  life.  He  is  never  perfectly 
well,  and  hardly  a  week  has  passed  in  his  thirty-five  years  of 
service  in  Syria  but  he  has  had  turns  of  severe  pain  and  prostra- 
tion. The  mission  removed  him  from  the  "  horseback  "  station 
of  Tripoli  to  Beirut  in  1882  to  reheve  him  from  the  wear  and  tear 
of  long  journeys  in  the  interior.  And  he  removed  to  Sidon  to 
engage  in  quiet  educational  work  and  the  management  of  the 
station  treasury.  But  that  appeal  was  like  fire  in  his  bones.  The 
latter  part  of  May,  true  to  his  centrifugal  instincts,  he  rose  from 
his  bed,  hired  a  horse,  and  with  his  boy  riding  a  mule  with  the 


650  Marking  Time 

bedding  and  a  few  cooking  utensils,  rode  down  the  coast  to  Tyre 
and  the  next  day  to  Bussah,  east  of  Acre,  wracked  with  head- 
ache. Preaching  there  and  working  among  the  crowds  who 
gathered,  he  went  on  east  over  a  frightful  breakneck  road  to 
Dibl,  where  he  had  dreadful  pains  and  sinking  turns.  Miles  away 
from  a  doctor,  he  lay  a  whole  day  on  the  floor,  faint,  and  rolling 
from  pain  and  nausea,  his  host,  a  kind,  elderly  man,  doing  his  best 
to  help,  but  unable  to  relieve  him.  The  next  day  he  rode  on 
horseback  six  hours  to  Tyre,  almost  falling  from  his  saddle  many 
times.  On  reaching  Tyre,  he  could  not  walk  to  the  Syrian  pas- 
tor's house  and  fell  prostrate.  The  next  morning  he  rose  at  six 
and  rode  six  and  a  half  hours  to  Sidon.  He  now  writes  that  he 
must  "  do  more  itinerating."  He  says  the  Cuban  War  reminds 
him  of  1861-1862,  when  he  was  ill  of  typhoid  fever  at  Drains- 
ville,  and  then  went  through  McClellan's  Potomac  Campaign  end- 
ing at  Malvern  Hills.  And  now  like  a  veteran  cavalry  horse  at 
pasture,  the  bugle  call  sets  him  all  on  fire.  If  it  be  true  that  some 
of  the  best  of  men  need  urging,  others,  as  truly,  need  restraining. 
It  is  my  experience  that  most  missionaries  work  up  to  the  full 
extent  of  their  ability  and  opportunity.  When  men  get  "  views  " 
about  sitting  still  to  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord,  they  need  stir- 
ring up.  I  was  once  told  the  following  story  of  Mr.  Moody : 
Young  George  Barnes,  the  Kentucky  evangelist,  whose  words 
were  burning  and  inspiring,  fell  into  that  trap.  Mr.  Moody  left 
him  in  Chicago  to  carry  on  the  work.  On  his  return,  he  could 
not  find  George.  After  inquiry,  he  was  told,  "  Oh,  he  has  joined 
the  little  circle  of ites,  who  are  sitting  down  to  await  the  com- 
ing of  the  Lord."  Mr.  Moody  rushed  to  him  and  taking  him  by 
the  collar,  said,  "  George,  out  of  this.  The  Lord  calls  you  to  go 
work  in  His  vineyard.  Out  of  this,  or  you  are  ruined."  Mr. 
Moody  was  right.  What  became  of  George  I  do  not  know,  but 
an  able-bodied  evangelist  can  make  no  greater  mistake  than  "  to 
sit  down  and  wait "  for  something  to  turn  up. 

At  the  request  of  Consul  Ravendal  I  prepared  in  July  the  follow- 
ing statistics  of  the  Americans,  their  schools  and  property  in  Syria : 


American  Interests  in  Syria  651 


Number  of  Americans,  old  and  young    . 

Number  of  American  schools 

Value  of  mission  property  in  Beirut  .     .     . 
"      "       "  "         "  Lebanon  field 

«      (<       «<  it         n  Sidon  " 

<i      <<       it  a         a  Tripoli        " 

«      <«       it  t,         n  Zahleh        " 


"5 

150 


^410,000 
36,108 

73.535 
31.875 
23,236 

i^574,754 


The  only  purely  American  hospital  is  that  of  Dr.  Ira  Harris  in 
Tripoli.  Dr.  Mary  P.  Eddy  does  clinical  medical  work  and  itin- 
erating camp  work  in  different  parts  of  Syria. 

The  American  medical  professors  in  the  Syrian  Protestant  Col- 
lege are  the  physicians  of  the  German  Hospital  of  the  Knights  of 
St.  John  in  Beirut  which  treated  the  past  year  545  in-door  patients* 
11,816  polychnic  patients. 

A  conference  of  Christian  workers  from  all  parts  of  the  empire 
was  held  in  Brummana,  Mount  Lebanon,  August  9th  to  14th. 
The  missionaries  of  different  societies  had  long  felt  the  need  of 
such  a  conference  to  promote  the  spiritual  life,  fraternal  coopera- 
tion, mutual  help  and  counsel  in  our  common  work.  A  com- 
mittee was  formed  in  Beirut  with  officers  for  correspondence  and 
preliminary  arrangements,  and  a  circular  letter  was  sent  to  all  the 
missions  in  Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Palestine,  and  Egypt. 

The  conference  met  in  Brummana  August  9,  1898,  and  was 
opened  by  Rev.  Dr.  George  A.  Ford.  One  hundred  and  ninety- 
six  persons  were  present,  of  whom  seventy-six  were  British,  fifty- 
seven  Americans,  eight  Germans,  four  Danes,  twenty-three 
Syrians,  eighteen  not  reported. 

Eleven  Protestant  denominations  were  represented :  Church 
of  England,  Established  Church  of  Scotland,  Free  Church  of 
Scotland,  American  Presbyterian,  Irish  Presbyterian,  Reformed 
Presbyterian,  Congregational,  Lutheran,  Friends,  Baptists,  Meth- 
odists. 

Thirty-four  papers  were  read  and  about  twenty-five  addresses 


652  Marking  Time 

given,  besides  remarks  often  of  great  interest  offered  by  mem- 
bers of  the  conference.  There  was  a  half  hour  sunrise  prayer- 
meeting  every  morning  and  a  forty-five  minutes'  sunset  service 
daily.  The  regular  sessions  were  from  9  :  30  to  1 1  :  30  a.  m,,  and 
from  2  :  30  to  4  P.  m. 

Brummana,  the  place  of  this  remarkable  conference,  is  three 
hours'  drive  by  carriage  from  Beirut  on  a  spur  of  the  Lebanon 
range,  2,500  feet  above  the  sea,  seeming  to  overhang  the  seashore 
and  looking  directly  down  upon  Beirut,  its  fertile  plain  and 
harbour.  It  has  in  summer  a  clear  sky  (there  is  no  rain  for  five 
months),  beautiful  forests  of  the  Lebanon  pine,  several  good  hotels 
and  many  private  boarding-houses.  The  grounds  and  buildings 
of  the  Friends'  Mission  were  offered  freely  to  the  conference  and 
many  of  the  members  were  given  free  board.  Some  had  rooms 
at  the  hotels  and  others  encamped  in  the  pine  groves. 

The  conference  proved  to  be  a  blessing  and  a  means  of  spirit- 
ual uplifting  to  all  and  it  was  agreed  to  hold  another  in  1901. 
One  of  the  most  interesting  features  was  the  presence  of  Miss  C. 
Shattuck  of  Urfa,  who  held  her  post  alone  during  the  awful  mas- 
sacres of  1 894- 1 895,  when  8,000  were  killed.  She  protected 
hundreds,  gathered  the  widows  and  orphans,  opened  industrial 
work,  until  she  had  1, 800  women  at  work  making  laces  and  em- 
broideries for  the  European  markets.  She  brought  affecting 
messages  to  the  conference  from  nineteen  of  her  widows  and 
helpers,  which  brought  tears  to  all  eyes. 

After  the  conference  I  baptized  in  Beirut  another  convert  from 
Islam,  a  young  baker  from  a  Lebanon  village,  who  had  been  long 
in  Beirut  attending  night  school  and  working  in  a  pubhc  oven. 
I  afterwards  baptized  his  younger  brother.  He  is  now  working 
in  a  print  mill  in  Rhode  Island  and  is  helping  the  younger  brother 
in  his  education. 

During  the  summer  I  was  closely  confined  with  literary  work 
for  the  weekly  Neshrah  and  correcting  proof  sheets. 

The  Syrian  Protestant  College  had  375  pupils,  a  large  increase 
on  the  previous  year. 


Emperor  William's  Visit  653 

The  statistics  of  the  theological  seminary  show  that  sixty  young 
men  have  been  trained  for  the  ministry  in  this  mission. 

On  the  9th  of  October,  the  Protestant  Orphanage  at  Dar-es- 
Salam  on  the  Sidon  Industrial  Farm  was  formally  dedicated.  It 
was  the  gift  of  Mrs.  George  Wood  of  New  York  who  has  placed 
the  people  of  Syria  and  the  missionary  body  under  lasting  obli- 
gations by  her  munificent  gifts  of  buildings,  land  and  endowment. 

On  the  5  th  of  November,  His  Imperial  Majesty,  William  III,  Em- 
peror of  Germany,  with  the  Empress  Augusta,  reached  Beirut  from 
Haifa  on  the  ship  Hohenzollern.  The  city  was  decorated  with 
triumphal  arches,  festoons,  flags  and  greens,  and  the  streets  covered 
with  sand.  The  whole  population  turned  out  to  greet  them.  They 
did  not  land  until  the  next  day,  Sunday,  when  they  paid  ofificial 
visits,  and  visited  the  German  Hospital  of  the  Knights  of  St. 
John.  A  decoration  was  conferred  upon  Dr.  Post,  dean  of  the  . 
American  College  medical  faculty.  ' 

At  night  the  villages  of  Lebanon  were  ablaze  with  bonfires. 
No  potentate  in  modern  times  has  had  such  a  regal  reception  in 
Syria.  He  had  already  visited  Jerusalem  and  dedicated  the  new 
German  Protestant  cathedral,  delivering  a  sermon  full  of  high 
evangelical  sentiment ;  had  been  to  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth,  and 
went  from  Beirut  to  Baalbec  and  Damascus.  His  journey  had 
apparently  a  threefold  object,  religious,  political,  and  commercial. 
His  visit  to  Jerusalem  was  religious  ;  to  Damascus,  commercial ; 
to  Constantinople,  political.  The  promotion  of  German  com- 
merce was  no  doubt  a  prime  object.  The  Bagdad  Railway,  the 
opening  of  new  markets  for  goods  made  in  Germany,  and  secur- 
ing special  privileges  for  German  subjects  in  business  and  ar- 
chaeological concessions,  were  all  direct  or  indirect  proofs  of  the 
Kaiser's  friendship  for  the  Sultan.  Politically,  no  European  power 
can  compare  in  influence  at  the  Porte  with  Germany.  \ 

Religiously,  his  simple  gospel  sermon  in  the  German  church 
in  Jerusalem  was  a  truly  missionary  work.  It  was  copied  into  all 
the  Arabic  journals  and  read  all  over  the  land.     In  his  outspoken, 


654  Marking  Time 

evangelical  sentiments,  he  witnessed  for  the  great  truths  for  which 
Martin  Luther  contended. 

In  preparation  for  his  coming,  we  prepared  a  life  of  Luther  and 
an  Arabic  translation  of  his  famous  Theses  with  illustrations,  and 
published  it  on  the  occasion  of  the  emperor's  arrival.  The  Turk- 
ish censors  made  no  objection.  We  published  an  edition  of  it  in 
gilt  letters,  which  was  presented  to  the  emperor  on  his  return 
from  Damascus  and  Baalbec,  through  Dr.  Schroeder,  the  German 
consul-general. 

At  the  official  banquet  in  Damascus,  which  was  worthy  of  the 
days  of  Haroun  el  Raschid,  the  Sheikh  Abdullah  greeted  the 
Kaiser  in  the  name  of  His  Imperial  Majesty,  Abdul  Hamid  II, 
the  caliph  of  three  hundred  millions  of  Mohammedans.  (The 
actual  numbers,  according  to  the  latest  statistics,  are  nearly  200,- 
000,000.)  The  Kaiser  in  reply  quoted  this  number  as  if  it  were 
correct  and  since  that  time  the  Moslem  journals,  near  and  far» 
have  quoted  him  as  announcing  that  three  hundred  million  Mos- 
lems look  to  the  Sultan  as  caliph. 

There  was  one  curious  feature  in  the  entertainment  of  the 
emperor,  Jowwad  Pasha,  who  was  sent  down  as  the  Sultan's 
representative  to  oversee  the  welcome  to  the  Kaiser,  was  not  al- 
lowed to  come  near  him.  The  Germans  said  that  as  this  pasha 
was  governor  of  Crete  at  the  time  of  the  massacre  of  Christians 
and  foreign  troops,  the  Kaiser  would  not  even  allow  him  to  come 
into  his  presence.  Jowwad  Pasha,  after  the  departure  of  the 
Kaiser,  visited  the  college  in  Beirut  and  spent  a  long  time  in 
the  observatory  with  Professor  West,  He  greatly  enjoyed  the 
large  twelve-inch  refractor  and  the  Brashear  spectroscope.  He 
said  that  he  had  translated  books  on  astronomy  and  taught  it  but 
had  never  seen  a  good  telescope  before. 

Before  leaving  Damascus,  the  emperor  placed  a  green  wreath 
on  the  tomb  of  Saladin  and  promised  to  send  one  of  bronze. 
Months  afterwards,  a  German  war-ship  reached  Beirut  with  high 
military  officers,  who  went  in  state  to  Damas«-us  and  hung  the 
beautiful  bronze  wreath  on  the  marble  tomb.  Subsequently,  a 
devout  sheikh  visited  the  tomb  of  Saladin,  but  stepped  back  in 


Saladin's  Tomb  655 

horror,  pointing  to  the  wreath,  which  had  on  it  the  Maltese  cross 
of  the  Knights  of  St.  John.  He  said,  "  Take  that  cross  away  ! 
A  Crusader's  cross  on  the  tomb  of  the  Sultan  Saladin !  God 
forbid  !  "  It  was  then  removed  and  hung  in  a  deep  niche  in  the 
wall,  facing  the  tomb,  where  it  is  greatly  admired  by  tourists,  but 
that  cross  costs  the  keeper  of  the  place  many  moments  of  effort 
to  explain  its  presence  to  the  faithful. 

There  is  another  story  connected  with  that  tomb.  When  Dr. 
Crawford  discovered  it  in  the  early  '60s,  I  was  in  Damascus,  and 
he  took  me  to  see  it.  Up  to  that  time  it  was  virtually  unknown, 
both  to  tourists  and  to  the  sheikhs  of  Damascus.  Not  long  after, 
a  Russian  prince  visited  Damascus  and  the  kavass  of  the  Russian 
consul  took  him  to  see  this  tomb.  At  that  time  it  was  badly 
neglected,  covered  with  dust,  and  the  floor  piled  with  rubbish. 
But  the  tomb  itself  was  encased  in  an  exquisitely  carved  walnut 
sarcophagus  of  delicate  tracery  with  the  name  of  Saladin  in 
ornamental  Arabic  and  the  date.  It  was  dusty  and  neglected 
and  the  prince  very  shrewdly  said  to  the  sheikh  through  his  in- 
terpreter, "  It  is  a  shame  to  leave  the  tomb  of  so  great  a  hero  in 
a  perishable  wooden  case.  Give  me  permission  and  I  will  put  in 
its  place  a  beautiful  polished  marble  tomb."  The  sheikh  eagerly 
accepted.  The  prince's  servants  took  away  the  old  walnut  case 
and  boxed  it  carefully  and  shipped  it  to  Russia  where  it  is  con- 
sidered a  priceless  treasure.  The  present  marble  tomb  is  beautiful, 
but  the  old  was  better. 

In  Baalbec  a  memorial  tablet  was  placed  on  the  interior  wall 
of  the  reputed  Temple  of  the  Sun  commemorating  the  emperor's 
visit.  But  his  visit  will  ever  be  memorable,  not  on  account  of  that 
marble  tablet,  but  from  the  fact  that  through  his  influence  the 
German  scholars  at  enormous  expense  cleared  almost  the  entire 
temple  area  of  the  debris  and  rubbish  of  ages  and  brought  to  view 
the  exact  configuration  of  the  interior,  exposing  the  exquisite 
sculpture  which  had  been  before  unknown.  They  identified  the 
beautiful  Temple  of  the  Sun,  so  many  of  whose  columns  are 
standing,  as  the  Temple  of  Bacchus,  certainly  not  a  very  appro- 
priate place  for  the  tablet  of  a  Christian  emperor. 


656  Marking  Time 

There  must  be  a  divine  plan  and  purpose  in  giving  this  Prot- 
estant emperor  such  an  extraordinary  hold  on  the  confidence  and 
enthusiasm  of  the  whole  Moslem  population  of  Turkey  from  the 
Sultan  down  through  all  the  ranks  and  grades  of  military  and  civil 
officers  to  the  common  peasantry. 

In  one  sense,  his  visit  has  already  had  its  effect.  It  has  dimin- 
ished sensibly  the  prestige  and  influence  of  France  in  Syria  and 
Palestine.  The  emperor  not  only  dedicated  a  Protestant  Church 
in  Jerusalem  on  the  anniversary  of  Luther's  Theses  at  Wittem- 
burg,  October  31,  1517,  but  he  has  also  taken  all  the  German 
Catholic  clergy,  laymen,  and  institutions  away  from  the  French 
protectorate  and  put  them  under  German  control.  French  in- 
fluence here  has  been  identified  with  the  worst  phases  of  Jesuit 
intrigue  and  anything  that  weakens  it  is  a  public  benefit.  In 
1906,  the  French  government  had  almost  ceased  to  aid  the 
Roman  Catholic  orders  in  Syria  owing  to  the  open  rupture  be- 
tween France  and  the  papal  curia. 

During  the  entire  period  of  the  emperor's  stay  in  Palestine 
and  Syria,  the  sky  was  cloudless  and  the  heat  intense.  On  the 
plain  of  Caesarea  south  of  Carmel  fourteen  horses  of  the  cavalcade 
died  of  the  heat.  The  whole  country  was  dry  and  parched  as  not 
a  drop  of  rain  had  fallen  for  six  months.  He  sailed  November 
1 2th  and  on  the  i6th  the  windows  of  heaven  were  opened,  a  pour- 
ing rain  refreshed  the  land  and  the  mountain  summits  were  frosted 
with  fresh  snow. 

In  December,  Mrs.  Gerald  F.  Dale,  Jr.,  who  had  returned  from 
America,  entered  the  Beirut  Girls'  Boarding-School,  owing  to  the 
absence  of  Miss  Alice  Barber  who  had  been  summoned  to  her 
home  in  Joliet  by  the  infirmities  of  her  aged  parents. 

Religious  Forces  at  Work  in  Turkey  in  1898 
The  most  striking  historical  event  in  Syria  in  the  year  1898 
was  without  question  the  visit  of  the  Emperor  and  Empress  of 
Germany  and  his  address  at  the  dedication  in  the  German  Prot- 
estant Church  in  Jerusalem. 


Religious  Forces  at  Work  657 

Five  great  religious  forces  are  now  contending  for  religious 
supremacy  in  Syria  and  Palestine,  the  Jewish,  the  Mohammedan, 
the  Papal,  the  Orthodox  Greek,  and  the  Protestant. 

1.  The  Modern  Jewish  Element,  backed  by  the  Rothschild 
colonization  scheme  and  the  Zionist  movement,  is  striving  to  buy 
land,  to  erect  buildings,  and  gradually  get  control  of  the  ancient 
land  of  Israel.  It  is  antagonized  by  the  Ottoman  government 
and  by  the  fellahin  of  the  rural  districts  of  Palestine,  who  regard 
this  influx  of  foreign  Jews  as  a  menace  to  their  own  rights  and 
privileges.  In  the  vicinity  of  Jerash,  east  of  the  Jordan,  where  a 
small  Jewish  colony  had  been  planted,  the  Moslem  fellahin 
recently  drove  out  the  colonists,  ruined  their  houses,  and  up- 
rooted their  trees.  The  rabbis,  embittered  by  the  fiery  persecu- 
tions against  the  Jews  in  Russia  and  other  parts  of  Europe,  are 
extremely  hostile  to  Christianity  in  every  form  and  continually 
issue  their  anathemas  against  Christian  missions.  The  recent 
Jewish  immigrants  are  under  the  protection  of  the  countries  from 
which  they  have  come,  but  no  one  foreign  power  stands  forth  as 
their  champion. 

2.  The  Mohammedans,  who  constitute  about  one-half  of  the 
population  of  Syria  and  Palestine,  enjoy  the  special  favour  and 
protection  of  the  Sultan  and  regard  themselves  as  the  lords  of  the 
land.  Where  they  are  in  the  large  majority,  as  in  Damascus,  they 
do  not  trouble  themselves  to  persecute  the  Christians  and  Jews, 
but  look  down  upon  them  with  a  feeling  of  haughty  superiority. 
Where  they  are  in  the  minority,  as  in  Beirut,  the  lower  classes  are 
insolent  and  offensive  in  their  attitude  towards  Christians  and  are 
often  allowed  to  use  personal  violence  with  little  fear  of  punish- 
ment. 

There  has  been  of  late  a  great  resuscitation  of  Mohammedan 
esprit  de  corps.  Their  newspapers  report  news  from  all  parts  of 
the  Mohammedan  world  and  urge  a  Pan-Islamic  Alliance.  Just 
now  they  are  especially  earnest  in  advocating  the  recovery  of  the 
Sudan  from  the  false  teaching  of  the  Mahdi  and  his  Khalifa 
Abdullah  el  Taaishy.  They  are  trying  to  stir  up  the  Moslem 
world  to  emulate  the  English  in  founding  the  Gordon  College  in 


658  Marking  Time 

Khartoum,  and  found  Moslem  schools  to  save  the  poor  Sudanese 
from  being  won  to  Christianity  by  the  kindness  and  medical 
services  of  Christian  medical  missions. 

The  Moslems  are  using  the  press  and  schools  for  boys  and  girls 
as  a  means  of  keeping  abreast  of  the  age.  And  it  is  a  striking 
fact  that  since  the  British  occupation  of  Egypt  the  Turkish 
government  has  obliged  the  newspapers  everywhere  to  abuse  the 
English  and  never  allow  an  article  in  praise  of  their  just  and  suc- 
cessful administration  of  the  affairs  of  Egypt.  Up  to  1878,  the 
Turkish  journalists  could  not  say  enough  in  praise  of  the  English 
Since  1882  all  is  changed,  and  within  the  past  few  years  all  their 
love  and  sympathy  has  been  transferred  to  Germany  whose 
emperor  was  silent  and  sympathetic  in  1896,  when  Armenian 
massacres  were  horrifying  the  world  ;  active  and  auxiliary  in  1897, 
during  the  Greek  War,  and  most  demonstrative  and  effusive  in 
1898  during  his  visit  to  this  empire. 

The  Mohammedan  official  and  unofficial  journals  have  ex- 
hausted a  vast  vocabulary  of  adulation,  for  which  the  Arabic  lan- 
guage is  so  famous,  in  praising  the  friend  and  ally  of  His  Imperial 
Majesty  the  Sultan  and  they  love  to  descant  upon  the  magnificent 
German  army  and  the  rapidly  growing  navy.  There  must  be  a 
divine  purpose  in  all  this  and  we  will  speak  of  it  before  closing 
this  chapter. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  Islam  has  ceased  to  be  aggressive  in 
Turkey  and  is  in  a  state  of  stagnation.  This  is  not  true.  Not 
less  than  eighteen  emirs  of  the  princely  family  of  Shehab  in 
Mount  Lebanon  who  have  been  Maronites  and  Greek  Catholics 
for  about  one  hundred  years,  have  recently  become  Moslems  and 
have  been  appointed  to  lucrative  posts  in  the  Turkish  civil  service. 
They  were  originally  Moslems  of  the  family  of  Koreish  and  the 
Turks  are  straining  every  nerve  to  bring  them  back  to  the  fold 
of  the  prophet  of  Mecca,  and  we  hear  from  various  places  of  Ori- 
ental Christians  won  over  to  Islam  by  bribery  and  favouritism, 
while  all  Moslems  becoming  Christians  are  obliged  to  suffer 
persecution  and  generally  to  leave  the  country  to  save  their 
lives, 


Aggressiveness  of  Papal  Agencies  659 

3.  The  Papal  Forces  in  this  land  are  numerous,  organized,  and 
intensely  aggressive.  The  Maronites  of  Lebanon  are  equal  to 
the  peasantry  of  Spain  in  their  subjection  to  the  priesthood  and 
in  ignorance  and  fanatical  hostihty  to  the  Bible  and  the  Prot- 
estant faith.  The  Jesuits  and  papal  nuncio  lead  the  van,  fol- 
lowed by  a  host  of  patriarchs,  bishops,  priests,  monks,  and  nuns. 
They  glory  in  the  protection  of  France,  and  the  French  consul- 
general  is  open  and  untiring  in  encouraging  the  papal  campaign 
of  conquest  of  the  Holy  Land.  France  expels  the  Jesuits  from 
France  and  expends  millions  of  francs  yearly  in  supporting  them 
as  political  agents,  educators,  and  intriguers  in  Turkey.  What- 
ever may  be  the  strength  of  the  Russo-French  Alliance  in 
France,  it  does  not  exist  nor  appear  in  these  lands.  It  is  Latin 
against  Greek,  French  priests  and  nuns  against  Russian  priests 
and  nuns,  jealousy  and  bitter  ecclesiastical  hatred.  The  Latins 
have  exhaustless  supplies  of  money,  men,  and  women.  They  are 
buying  land  and  erecting  buildings  in  all  the  towns  and  many  of 
the  small  villages  throughout  the  land.  Beirut  is  full  of  their  fine 
establishments.  One  of  their  zealous  propagandists  remarked 
that  they  had  orders  to  open  schools  in  every  place  where  Prot- 
estants are  at  work  and  if  possible  on  land  adjoining  Protestant 
schools.  They  are  following  up  the  Greek  schools  in  the  same 
way. 

France  is  their  idol.  On  France  they  lean  for  protection  and 
every  blow  aimed  at  France  is  felt  to  be  aimed  at  Rome  and  the 
Church.  Some  of  the  Syrian  Romanists  are  getting  their  eyes 
partly  opened.  One  of  their  leading  merchants  in  Beirut  re- 
cently asked  their  bishop,  "  Why  is  it  that  Catholic  countries  are 
everywhere  declining  and  Protestant  countries  rising  in  power  ? 
Why  are  Spain,  France,  Portugal,  and  Italy  going  down  and 
England,  Germany,  and  America  really  ruling  the  world?" 
The  bishop  replied,  "  It  is  true,  but  I  do  not  understand  the 
reason." 

4.  The  Orthodox  Greek  element  in  these  lands  is  like  the 
conies,  "  a  feeble  folk."  They  are  divided  into  three  parties,  the 
native  Syrian  Greeks,  who  are  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Church ; 


66o  Marking  Time 

the  Brotherhood  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  ^rx  Hellenic  foreign  Greek 
party  of  immense  wealth  in  Jerusalem,  enjoying  the  special  fa- 
vour of  the  Turks  and  engaged  in  constant  intrigues  to  control 
the  patriarchates  and  bishoprics ;  and  thirdly,  the  Russian  party 
backed  by  holy  Russia,  supported  by  its  consuls  and  just  now 
intensely  active  in  resisting  the  aggressions  of  the  Papists  and 
Protestants  on  the  Greek  Church  constituency. 

The  Russians  have  entered  in  earnest  upon  the  work  of  saving 
the  Greek  Church  in  Syria  and  Palestine  from  disintegration. 
They  have  opened  schools  within  a  few  years  and  are  pushing  this 
work  on  every  hand.  It  is  a  saving  feature  in  their  work  that 
they  are  introducing  the  Arabic  Scriptures  published  at  the 
American  Press  into  all  their  schools. 

They  antagonize  the  monks  of  the  Brotherhood  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  and  aim  at  securing  Syrian  bishops  and  patriarchs  over 
the  churches  instead  of  the  Hellenic  monks. 

The  conflict  is  now  waging  in  Damascus  between  the  patriotic 
Greek  bishops  and  the  Hellenic  party  in  trying  to  elect  a  patri- 
arch. They  have  been  in  session  nearly  a  year  without  coming 
to  an  election.  The  Russians  support  the  native  Greek  bishops ; 
and  the  Hellenes,  through  their  influence  and  money  power  in 
Constantinople,  are  opposing  them,  as  every  Christian  bishop's 
election  must  be  ratified  by  the  Sublime  Porte. 

It  is  a  humiliating  and  painful  spectacle  and  a  scandal  that  the 
Mohammedan  Turks  should  control  the  election  of  a  Christian 
bishop. 

In  Palestine  itself  the  Russians  are  active  in  buying  land  and 
erecting  buildings  and  mingling  political  and  religious  considera- 
tions in  all  their  operations,  striving  first  of  all  to  thwart  the 
schemes  and  projects  of  Rome  and  of  France,  the  tool  of  Rome  in 
the  East. 

5.  Protestantism  in  Syria  and  Palestine  is  represented  by  the 
American,  English,  Scotch,  Irish,  and  German  Missions,  by  a 
native  evangelical  community  of  nearly  ten  thousand  adherents. 

In  former  years,  England  stood  forth  as  the  great  protector  of 
Protestantism  and  of  religious   liberty.     The  word  of  ?i  British 


Status  of  Protestantism  661 

consul  made  pashas  tremble,  and  the  persecuted  looked  to  Eng- 
land for  reUef.  This  state  of  things  still  continues  to  some 
extent  but  consular  interference  is  generally  ofificious  and  not 
official. 

Protestantism  has  become  an  established  and  recognized  ele- 
ment in  the  empire  and  does  not  ordinarily  suffer  greater  disa- 
bilities than  the  other  Oriental  sects. 

The  change  of  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  Turks  towards  Eng- 
land naturally  threw  a  shadow  over  the  Protestants  all  over  the 
empire  who  are  supposed  to  be  in  sympathy  with  England.  But 
the  most  important  Protestant  literary  institutions  in  the  empire, 
being  American,  have  kept  steadily  on  their  way,  growing  in 
number  and  influence,  and  there  are  more  children  and  youths 
in  Protestant  schools  than  ever  before.  In  some  places  the  free 
tuition  and  books  supplied  by  Jesuits  or  Russians  have  enticed 
children  away  from  the  Protestant  schools  but  the  more  thorough 
teaching  given  generally  brings  them  back  again. 

The  Syrian  Protestant  College  in  Beirut  has  increased  so  rap- 
idly in  numbers  that  new  buildings  are  imperatively  needed.  It 
has  three  hundred  and  seventy  students  in  its  halls  this  year,  of 
whom  seventy  are  in  medicine  and  pharmacy,  one  hundred  and 
four  in  the  collegiate  department,  and  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
six  in  the  preparatory  department.  It  ought  to  have  at  once 
new  buildings  to  accommodate  two  hundred  additional  pupils. 
Its  language  is  English  and  the  people  of  Asia  Minor  and  Egypt, 
as  well  as  those  of  Syria  and  Palestine,  appreciate  the  importance 
of  a  thorough  English  education  for  their  sons  and  the  demand 
will  increase  in  years  to  come. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  give  statistics  with  regard  to  the  other 
societies  labouring  in  Syria  but  they  are  all  encouraged  by  the 
growing  interest  of  the  people  in  Protestant  education.  And 
their  willingness  to  pay  is  a  good  proof  of  substantial  interest. 
In  the  first  year  of  the  college  there  were  sixteen  pupils,  all 
charity  pupils.  This  year  the  college  receipts  from  the  students 
were  ;^3,700.  This  is  a  remarkable  fact  and  full  of  encourage- 
ment.    But  this  brief  summary  of  the  status  of  the  five  religious 


662  Marking  Time 

forces  at  work  in  Syria  and  Palestine  would  be  incomplete  with- 
out reference  to  the  British  Syrian  Schools  with  fifty  schools  and 
four  thousand  pupils,  Miss  Taylor's  school  for  Moslem  and  Druse 
girls,  schools  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  the  Free  Church ; 
of  the  Friends  in  Brummana,  Miss  Procter  in  Shwifat,  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  in  Palestine,  the  London  Jews'  Society, 
and  lastly  the  extensive  work  carried  on  by  the  Germans  in 
Beirut,  Haifa,  Jaffa,  Jerusalem  and  Bethlehem,  in  hospitals,  orphan- 
ages, boarding-schools,  and  industrial  schools,  as  well  as  in  their 
chapels  for  German  colonists,  they  are  doing  a  solid  work  for  the 
sound  training  of  the  people,  and  the  exhibition  of  the  Spirit  of 
the  Master. 

With  all  these  religious  forces  and  elements  in  view,  the  ques- 
tion is  asked,  What  has  been  the  effect  of  the  German  emperor's 
visit  on  the  public  mind? 

1.  It  has  brought  Protestantism  to  the  front  and  given  it  dig- 
nity in  the  eye  of  the  Mohammedans,  who  look  upon  the  em- 
peror as  the  great  exponent  of  the  Protestant  faith. 

2.  It  has  dealt  a  crushing  blow  to  the  French  prestige  in  all 
this  empire.  Even  among  the  French  Catholics,  Germany  is 
praised  on  account  of  the  liberal  spirit  shown  by  the  emperor  in 
buying  and  presenting  a  plot  of  ground  in  Jerusalem  to  the  Ger- 
man Catholics  and  pledging  the  protection  of  Germany  to  all 
German  Catholic  subjects  in  the  East. 

3.  It  has  no  doubt  drawn  out  the  sympathy  of  the  Turkish 
government,  the  army,  and  the  common  people  towards  a  great 
Protestant  power.  With  all  due  respect  to  the  emperor,  we  can- 
not but  feel  that  he  made  a  mistake  in  his  speech  in  Damascus. 
The  Moslem  sheikh  who  welcomed  him  spoke  of  the  three 
hundred  millions  of  Mohammedans  in  the  world.  The  emperor 
in  reply  declared  himself  the  friend  of  all  these  tJiree  hundred 
milHons.  As  the  most  exact  statistics  make  the  highest  estimate 
less  than  two  hundred  millions,  it  was  a  great  mistake  to  echo 
the  grandiloquent  utterance  of  the  sheikh  and  thus  give  sanction 
to  a  statement  which  has  puffed  up  the  Moslems  to  a  new  sense 
of  their  own  importance  in  the  world.     I  sent  to  the  Beirut  censor 


God's  Use  of  Kings  and  Princes  663 

of  the  press  an  exact  table  of  the  census  of  Islam  in  the  empires  of 
the  world  (taken  from  the  Missionary  Revieiv)  with  reference 
to  publishing  it  in  our  Arabic  journal  and  he  prohibited  the  pub- 
lication as  it  was  not  in  accord  with  the  emperor's  Damascus 
address. 

Whether  the  Mohammedan  regard  for  the  emperor  will  help 
Protestantism  does  not  appear.  It  will  certainly  give  the  Ger- 
man ambassador  at  Constantinople  and  their  consuls  throughout 
the  empire  a  mighty  influence  for  good  in  insisting  on  Uberty  of 
conscience  for  all  the  people. 

And  who  knows  but  that  the  emperor  has  come  to  the  throne 
for  some  great  and  good  end  in  this  empire  ?  His  influence  is 
now  unequalled.  German  commerce  will  thrive  more  than  ever, 
and  if  the  new  hopes  of  near  approach  between  England,  Ger- 
many, and  the  United  States  are  realized,  we  may  yet  see  Teu- 
tonic and  Anglo-Saxon  influence  displacing  and  effacing  French 
and  Russian  influence  throughout  the  land. 

We  do  not  put  our  trust  in  princes,  but  our  God  and  King  can 
use  them  as  His  own  servants  to  accomplish  His  will  on  earth. 


XXVI 

A  New  Century  Dawns  (i  899-1 900) 

THIS  year  was  crowded  with  hard  work,  interesting  events, 
laborious  correspondence,  and  sad  experience  in  the 
death  of  many  native  friends  and  one  missionary  lady» 
Mrs.  Shaw,  of  typhoid  fever. 

Our  plan  of  making  the  theological  class  a  summer  school 
precluded  our  having  a  summer  vacation,  as  I  had  to  teach  in 
Suk  el  Gharb,  two  miles  from  my  summer  home,  for  six  months, 
driving  over  daily,  and  at  the  same  time  keeping  up  editorial 
vi^ork  for  the  Beirut  Press  and  a  heavy  correspondence.  I  have 
copies  of  five  hundred  pages  of  letters,  English  and  Arabic, 
written  in  that  six  months. 

Sir  William  Muir  kept  up  regular  communication  with  me 
about  printing  his  book,  "  Call  to  the  Moslems  to  Read  the 
Bible,"  and  a  new  book  by  the  author  of  the  "  Bakurah,"  entitled 
♦' The  Torch  of  Guidance,"  or,  "  Masbah-ul-Huda."  This  latter 
work  Sir  William  translated  and  printed  in  English  in  London. 
In  our  correspondence,  we  were  agreed  as  to  the  unseemly  mis- 
carriage of  the  Gordon  Memorial  Fund  of  ;^  100,000  raised  in 
England  to  found  a  Gordon  University  in  Khartoum.  The 
British  authorities  in  Egypt  saw  fit  to  found  with  this  fund  a 
purely  Mohammedan  university  from  which  all  allusion  to  Christ 
and  Christianity  should  be  excluded.  The  Christian  people  of 
England  and  other  places  who  gave  this  money  never  dreamed 
that  it  would  be  used  to  rear  a  barrier  against  the  Bible  and 
Christianity,  and  to  teach  the  Sudanese  that  the  Christian  English 
are  ashamed  of  their  faith ;  that  it  would  be  open  for  work  on 
Sunday  and  all  teachers  forced  to  labour  on  that  day ;  and  that 
no  Christian  boy  could  enter  it  unless  he  would  study  the  Koran, 

664 


The  Gordon  Memorial  Blunder  665 

Had  this  policy  been  honestly  announced  before  the  fund  had 
been  raised,  probably  the  great  part  of  it  would  have  been  with- 
held. When  the  news  was  first  printed,  the  Moslems  of  Syria 
exclaimed,  "  If  the  Christian  EngUsh  will  give  such  a  sum  for  a 
school  in  Khartoum,  we  Moslems  should  give  as  much  to  found 
a  Moslem  school  there."  They  took  it  for  granted  that  it  would 
be  a  Christian  school,  for  Gordon's  high  Christian  character  was 
known  everywhere  among  the  Moslems,  and  they  respected  him 
for  it,  as  they  do  not  believe  in  a  man  who  has  no  religion. 
Great,  then,  was  their  surprise  when  they  learned  that  it  was  to 
be  a  mere  Moslem  "  Medriseh."  The  whole  policy  of  the  British 
rulers  of  Egypt  with  regard  to  Christianity  is  simply  shameful. 
They  ignore  the  Christian  Sunday.  All  employees  of  the  gov- 
ernment, Moslem,  Christian,  and  Jew,  must  work  on  Sunday. 
Hundreds  of  our  Christian  young  men  who  have  gone  from 
Syria  to  Egypt  and  found  employment  and  high  salary  under  the 
government,  are  forced  to  work  on  Sunday  and  given  a  holiday 
on  Friday,  the  Moslem  holy  day.  Thus  compelled  by  Christian 
Englishmen  to  break  the  fourth  commandment,  it  would  not  be 
strange  if  they  should  break  the  eighth  commandment.  The 
Hon.  William  E.  Dodge  sold  out  all  his  stock  in  the  New  Jersey 
Central  Railroad  because  it  would  run  its  trains  on  Sunday.  He 
told  the  directors,  "  If  you  teach  your  employees  to  break  one 
commandment,  do  not  wonder  if  they  break  another  and  rob 
your  treasury." 

Had  the  English  in  the  outset  given  all  Christian  employees 
the  option  of  working  on  Sunday  or  Friday  they  would  have 
been  respected  by  all.  As  it  is,  the  Moslems  are  beginning  to 
say,  "  After  all,  the  English  have  no  religion.  They  violate  their 
own  sacred  law  because  they  are  afraid  of  us  and  want  to  win  our 
favour." 

Instead  of  gaining  the  respect  and  favour  of  the  Moslem  popu- 
lation they  have  gained  their  contempt.  The  Moslems  despise  a 
Jew  who  opens  his  shop  on  Saturday  and  a  Christian  who  opens 
his  on  Sunday. 

The  Gordon  College  should  have  two  departments  made  op- 


666  A  New  Century  Dawns 

tional  to  all,  one  with  Christian  teachers  and  one  with  Moslem 
teachers.  This  would  have  been  regarded  as  fair  and  honourable, 
and  no  one  would  have  complained.  As  it  is,  Christianity,  the 
religion  of  General  Gordon  and  the  millions  of  English  people,  is 
ignored  in  the  Sudan  and  Egypt,  and  the  Christian  sacred  day 
of  rest  is  shamefully  dishonoured.  English  prestige  has  lost  and 
not  gained  by  this  truckling  to  imaginary  lions  in  the  way,  this 
denying  their  own  faith,  this  ignoring  what  has  made  England 
great  and  honoured  among  the  nations.  No  Englishman  knew 
the  Moslem  mind  both  in  India,  Arabia,  and  Egypt  better  than 
Sir  William  Muir.  He  knew  their  Koran,  their  sacred  books  and 
commentaries  and  all  their  history.  He  had  governed  millions 
of  them  in  India;  he  had  among  their  eminent  Ulema  and  schol- 
ars many  personal  friends,  and  he  loved  the  Moslem  people  and 
laboured  to  lead  them  to  Christ  their  Saviour.  But  he  felt  that 
the  true  policy  of  England  is  to  obey  the  laws  of  Christianity  and 
act  according  to  its  own  professions.  To  give  up  one's  own  prin- 
ciples to  win  favour  of  others  is  a  suicidal  policy.  It  cannot  be 
that  the  blessing  of  God  will  crown  this  present  Sabbath-breaking 
and  Bible-ignoring  policy  of  England  in  Egypt  and  the  Sudan. 
It  was  adopted  to  win  favour  and  tide  over  a  crisis.  It  has  won 
no  one  and  has  forced  a  worse  crisis  and  every  month's  delay 
makes  it  more  and  more  difficult  to  return  to  an  honest  Christian 
course.  Could  Sir  William  Muir  have  been  consulted,  and  had 
he  been  younger  and  been  given  the  Sirdarship  of  the  Sudan, 
Christianity  would  not  have  been,  as  it  is,  trailing  its  skirts  in  sor- 
row in  the  dust.  Let  us  hope  that  a  change  will  be  made  ere  it 
be  too  late. 

On  the  26th  of  February,  a  novel  event  occurred  in  Beirut. 
The  Orthodox  Greek  Committee  of  St.  John's  Hospital  unveiled  a 
white  marble  bust  of  an  American  missionary,  Rev.  Cornelius 
V.  A.  Van  Dyck,  M.  D.,  D.  D.,  L.  H.  D. 

After  Dr.  Van  Dyck's  resignation  of  his  professorship  in  the 
Syrian  Protestant  College,  he  could  no  longer,  according  to  the 
rules  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John,  attend  the  clinics  of  the  German 


The  Van  Dyck  Memorial  667 

St.  John's  Hospital.  But  his  heart  was  in  medical  work,  as  it  was 
in  Arabic  Bible  translation,  and  he  offered  his  services  to  the 
Greek  hospital  which  was  sorely  in  need  of  his  aid.  And  al- 
though his  house  was  nearly  two  miles  from  that  hospital,  he 
drove  there  several  times  a  week  in  a  carriage  sent  by  the  hos- 
pital, and  for  years  treated  the  sick  and  diseased,  and  from  his 
own  private  funds  built  an  airy  ward  to  increase  the  capacity  of 
the  hospital.  The  Greek  community,  which  fully  appreciated 
his  long,  faithful  and  self-denying  services,  prepared  this  beautiful 
bust  which  stands  in  the  open  area  of  the  quadrangle  and  was 
unveiled  with  imposing  ceremonies.  It  was  made  of  Carrara 
marble  by  an  Italian  sculptor.  A  great  crowd  of  people  was 
present,  Greeks,  Protestants,  Mohammedans,  Maronites,  and 
Jews,  and  some  very  eloquent  and  beautiful  addresses  were  made 
by  Syrian  scholars  and  physicians  expressing  their  admiration  of 
their  friend,  teacher,  and  benefactor. 

Mr.  William  T.  Stead  of  London  has  recently  visited  Con- 
stantinople with  his  eyes  and  ears  open.  He  made  a  study  of 
Robert  College  and  all  the  American  colleges,  seminaries  and 
schools  in  the  empire  and  wrote  to  the  Associated  Press  a  letter 
which  naturally  made  a  sensation.  He  was  shrewd  enough  to 
see  the  moral  and  intellectual  benefits  of  this  great  system  of 
Christian  institutions  and  their  uplifting  influence  among  the 
varied  population.  But  as  a  politician  he  looked  through  a 
politician's  eyes  at  all  this  and  saw  in  \\.  2.  propagatio7i  of  Free 
Republican  ideas}  But  he  did  not  know  that  the  American  mis- 
sionaries studiously  avoid  politics,  living  as  they  do  under  an  ab- 
solute monarchy  and  that  they  pray  for  the  Sultan  and  the 
"  powers  that  be  "  that  "  are  ordained  of  God,"  and  enjoin  obe- 
dience to  the  laws  of  the  land.  Such  letters  as  that  of  Mr.  Stead 
do  no  good  to  the  work  of  Christian  missionaries  who  are  labour- 
ing for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  people  and  have  no  political 

^  A  change  has  come  over  Turkey  in  1908-1909.  No  one  will  now 
fear  to  claim  that  American  schools  have  had  great  influence  in  bringing 
about  the  new  era  of  liberty  in  Turkey. 


668  A  New  Century  Dawns 

object  whatever,  and,  however  well  meant,  they  utterly  misrepre- 
sent the  real  spiritual  and  moral  aims  of  the  whole  body  of  mis- 
sionaries and  stir  up  official  hostility.  Fortunately  the  great  body 
of  the  educated  Turkish  officials  appreciate  the  good  which  has 
been  done  and  not  only  favour  the  American  schools  but  are  glad 
to  send  their  own  children  to  them  for  education. 

It  is  not  often  that  a  foreign  missionary  feels  impelled  to  warn 
young  Christian  medical  graduates  against  joining  a  medical  mis- 
sion. But  a  letter  just  received  from  Kingston,  Canada,  obliges 
me  to  speak  out. 

A  young  final-year  student  in  medicine  at  Queen's  Medical 
College,  Kingston,  Ontario,  writes  me,  under  date  of  January  i  ith, 

that  he  and  two  other  students  have  been  invited  by  Dr.  E , 

"  president  of  the  White  Cross  Medical  Missionary  Alliance,"  to 
go  with  him  as  medical  practitioners  to  Palestine,  their  fare  to 
Palestine  being  paid  by  the  Alliance ;  a  complete  outfit  to  be 
given  them  for  going  into  the  field  of  medical  work,  on  arrival  at 
Jericho,  the  headquarters  of  the  mission ;  a  location  for  practice 
to  be  provided  ;  a  guarantee  of  plenty  of  work,  for  which  they 
must  accept  pay  in  cash  in  all  cases  where  patients  can  afford  it, 
and  otherwise  accept  labour,  produce,  various  articles,  etc.     Dr. 

E also  guaranteed  $2$  a  month,  and  says  that  no  doctor 

of  those  already  in  the  work  has  yet  made  less  than  $ys  ^  month. 
In  return  for  these  privileges,  the  young  men  are  to  agree  to  re- 
main with  the  organization  for  two  years,  to  give  twenty-five  per 
cent,  of  their  earnings  to  the  society  for  that  period,  and  to  be 
subject  to  the  Turkish  government. 

The  young  student  asks  whether  the  work  will  be  fully  as  re- 
munerative  as  Dr.  E promises,  and  whether  there  is  any 

danger  of  their  being  left  in  the  lurch  among  a  wild  people.  He 
explains  that  they  have  not  been  asked  to  go  as  missionaries  in 
the  true  sense  of  the  word.  "  Our  only  missionary  work  is  to 
treat  all  who  need  it,  on  the  above  terms."  He  also  adds  that 
the  doctor  is  taking  with  him  twenty-five  young  graduates  in 
medicine,  and  that  the  treasurer  is  Count  C of  Brooklyn, 


A  Quixotic  Scheme  669 

N.  Y.     The  writer  also  says  that  his  family  friends  wish  some 

guarantee  of  the  correctness  of  Dr.  E 's  statements  and  also 

proof  of  the  financial  backing  and  the  surplus  funds  of  the  society. 

I  have  no  knowledge  of  Dr.  E or  of  the  treasurer  Count 

(who  had  evidently  begun  to  count  his  chickens  before  they  were 
hatched)  but  I  know  something  of  Jericho  and  the  surrounding 
country,  and  therefore  wrote  the  ingenuous  medical  student,  dis- 
suading him  and  all  other  medical  students  from  entering  on  such 
an  extraordinary  undertaking.  It  is  difficult  to  be  patient  with 
such  a  Quixotic  scheme.  Of  all  the  spots  on  the  face  of  the 
earth,  Jericho  would  be  the  last  one  to  be  chosen  as  the  head- 
quarters of  a  paying  medical  mission.  I  have  written  to  this 
young  man : 

"  I.  Jericho  is  the  lowest  village  on  earth,  being  nearly  1,300 
feet  below  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  as  low  morally  as  it  is  physic- 
ally. 

"  2.  It  is  about  the  hottest  place,  has  a  pestilential  climate, 
and  from  May  to  November  is  practically  uninhabitable  by  white 
men. 

"  3.  The  entire  population,  according  to  Baedeker,  is  not  more 
than  300,  and,  if  they  were  equal  to  the  peasants  of  Syria,  could 
not  support  a  single  medical  man. 

"  4.  These  Arabs  of  Jericho  are  of  the  lowest,  most  vacant  and 
worthless  type,  a  byword  and  a  proverb  in  the  whole  land. 
They  are  thievish,  lying,  filthy,  and  morally  degraded,  poor,  beg- 
garly, and  abject,  lazy  and  half  naked.  Their  highest  aim  is  to 
dance  around  the  tents  of  pilgrims  and  tourists  and  beg  for  a  re- 
ward, 

"  5.  There  are  two  or  three  small  hotels,  used  only  in  the  tourist 
season,  but  the  huts  of  the  wild  Arabs  are  abject  and  filthy.  It 
is  doubtful  whether  the  entire  population  could  raise  five  dollars 
in  cash. 

"  6.  As  to  the  population  accessible  from  Jericho  and  available 
to  furnish  paying  patients,  the  Bedawin  of  the  Ghor,  or  Jordan 
Valley,  on  the  north  ;  of  the  mountains  of  Moab  on  the  southeast, 
and  of  the  wilderness  south  of  the  Dead  Sea  are  poor,  predatory. 


670  A  New  Century  Dawns 

and  uncertain.  These  tribes  are  wild,  migratory,  living  in  black 
goat's  hair  tents.  They  are  all  experienced  robbers  and  cut- 
throats. The  Ghor  Arabs  yield  to  none  in  thievishness  and 
rascality.  To  the  west,  it  is  eighteen  miles  to  Jerusalem  through 
a  waste,  howling  wilderness,  where  it  is  never  safe  for  a  man  to 
travel  alone. 

"  7.  As  the  object  of  the  mission  is  to  charge  fees  for  medical 
practice  and  gain  from  twenty-five  to  seventy-five  dollars  a  month 
for  each  doctor,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  Jerusalem, 
Bethlehem,  Jaffa,  Gaza,  Nablus,  Haifa,  Nazareth,  Tiberias,  and 
Safed  are  already  supplied  with  a  large  number  of  foreign  medical 
missionaries,  many  of  whom  are  forbidden  to  take  fees,  so  that 
independent  medical  practitioners  cannot  earn  their  bread. 
Graduates  from  our  medical  college  in  Beirut  find  it  next  to  im- 
possible to  earn  a  living  in  Palestine,  as  the  people  will  not  pay 
for  what  they  can  get  for  nothing. 

"  8.  The  proposition  to  send  twenty-five  or  ten  or  five  or  even 
one  medical  missionary  to  Jericho  as  headquarters  of  a  mission, 
which  is  to  be  supported  by  fees,  strikes  our  medical  men  here  as 
absurd. 

"9.  If  any  of  your  medical  friends  do  actually  decide  to 
establish  a  '  White  Cross  Mission  '  in  Jericho,  they  would  do 
well  to  provide  themselves  beforehand  with  coffins,  as  wood  is  not 
obtainable  there,  and  they  would  hardly  wish  to  be  buried  in  the 
Bedawin  style,  and  I  take  it  for  granted  that  they  would  succumb 
to  the  first  summer  heat  and  malarial  poison. 

"10.  Missions  are  generally  established  where  there  are  men, 
at  great  centres  of  population,  or  where  large  numbers  are  acces- 
sible,— but  this  is  the  first  society  to  my  knowledge  to  propose 
work  in  a  '  howling  wilderness.' 

"  What  Dr.  E proposes  to  do  with  twenty-five  medical 

graduates  I  cannot  imagine.  The  Turkish  government  will  not 
allow  Europeans  to  live  among  the  Bedawin,  as  they  suspect 
them  of  being  military  agents,  fomenting  rebellion  against  the 
government.  And  the  Bedawin  are  virtually  the  only  people 
there. 


Tarry  at  Home — ^Not  at  Jericho  671 

♦*  It  is  incredible  to  me  that  the  '  floater  '  of  this  scheme  should 
propose  it,  if  he  has  actually  been  in  Jericho. 

"  As  a  friend  and  as  an  American,  not  to  say  as  a  Christian,  I 
would  warn  you  against  involving  yourself  in  such  an  undertak- 
ing.    It  could  only  end  in  disaster. 

"  There  are  hundreds  of  cities  in  Chma  where  the  people  swarm 
in  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  you  would  have 
more  actual  medical  practice  in  a  week  than  you  would  have  in 
five  years  in  desolate  Jericho. 

"  When  King  David  sent  his  servants  across  the  Jordan  on  a 
kindly  errand,  and  the  suspicious  Hanan  shaved  off  one-half  of 
their  beards,  David  sent  word  to  them,  '  Tarry  at  Jericho  until 
your  beards  are  grown.'  I  would  recommend  these  young  men 
to  tarry  in  the  United  States  until  their  beards  are  grown,  or,  at 
least,  until  some  better  field  of  labour  is  opened  to  them.  When 
you  can  find  men  by  the  hundred  thousand  in  other  lands, 
why  go  to  such  a  deserted  spot  as  Jericho  or  even  to  Palestine, 
which  is  already  overstocked  with  medical  practitioners  ?  " 

I  never  received  an  answer  to  this  letter  and  I  never  met  Dr. 

E ,  but  in   1903  I  was  informed  that  a  man  with  his  name 

was  lecturing  in  Northern  Pennsylvania  on  his  adventures  in  the 
Holy  Land. 

February  14th  I  baptized  a  beautiful  Druse  maiden  of  a  high 
Lebanon  family,  who  had  been  ten  years  under  instruction  in 
Miss  Jessie  Taylor's  school  in  Beirut.  She  gave  the  best  evidence 
of  a  work  of  grace  in  her  heart  and  intelligently  took  a  bold 
stand  for  Christ. 

The  last  week  of  the  year  I  attended  the  funeral  of  another 
Druse  girl,  Dhiya  el  Kadi,  of  a  once  eminent  family  in  Lebanon, 
whose  father  and  grandfather  were  warm  friends  and  pupils  of 
Dr.  Van  Dyck.  This  delicate  girl,  a  victim  of  consumption, 
lingered  for  weeks  in  growing  infirmity  and  was  visited  by  Eng- 
lish and  American  ladies  and  Syrian  Bible-women.  Her  whole 
conversation  was  of  the  love  of  Christ.     She  always  asked  me  to 


672  A  New  Century  Dawns 

pray  with  her.  The  father,  who  loved  her  tenderly,  watched  hef 
ebbing  strength  with  great  agony.  Her  last  words  were  those  of 
trust  in  Christ  and  seeing  Him  as  her  Saviour.  After  her  death 
the  Druse  sheikhs  crowded  into  the  house.  The  father  sent  for 
me  to  conduct  the  funeral.  The  Druses  claimed  the  right  to 
bury  her.  I  told  them  it  could  make  no  difference  to  her  who 
buried  her.  I  then  read  the  Scriptures,  made  some  remarks,  and 
offered  prayer.  The  crowd  were  silent  and  reverent,  and  they 
bore  the  frail  body  away  to  their  burial-ground  on  the  summit  of 
the  sand-dunes  west  of  the  city. 

Two  sudden  deaths  in  the  college  from  the  use  of  firearms 
made  a  deep  and  sad  impression  on  the  community.  Tutor  John 
Mitchell,  while  cleaning  a  revolver,  accidentally  shot  himself 
through  the  head  (in  October).  The  investigation  instituted 
by  Consul  Ravendal  proved  this  to  be  the  case. 

A  student  from  Jerusalem,  who  had  been  greatly  depressed 
and  had  written  bitter  things  against  himself,  obtained  a  revolver, 
and  in  a  fit  of  temporary  mental  disorder,  took  his  own  life. 

As  a  contrast  to  this  latter,  we  were  called  to  conduct  the 
funeral  of  one  of  the  Lord's  Syrian  saints,  Mrs.  Lulu  Araman, 
widow  of  Mr.  Michaiel  Araman.  She  was  a  pupil  of  the  first 
girls'  school  in  Syria,  under  Mrs.  De  Forest,  from  1848  to  1852, 
and  was  one  of  the  original  eighteen  members  of  the  first  evan- 
gehcal  church,  founded  in  Syria  in  1848.  She  laboured  in  the 
Beirut  Girls'  Boarding-School  from  1861  to  1869.  She  was  truly 
a  mother  in  Israel,  amiable,  calm,  trustful,  and  faithful  in  training 
her  children.  Her  home  was  a  beautiful  testimony  to  the  value 
of  Christian  education  and  her  daughters  follow  her  lovely 
Christian  example  in  their  well  ordered  households.  The  Lord 
raise  up  many  such  daughters  of  Syria  to  take  her  place. 

Dr.  Thomson,  so  long  identified  with  the  Syria  Mission  and 
famous  for  his  great  work,  "  The  Land  and  the  Book,"  used  to 
quote  the  saying  of  old  Yusef  el  Malty,  a  Maltese  ship-chandler 


Patience  Rewarded  673 

of  early  days  in  Beirut.  Turkish  officials  had  kept  Dr.  Thomson 
waiting  for  hours  at  the  port  and  then  disappeared,  leaving  word 
for  Dr.  Thomson  to  come  the  next  day.  Old  Yusef  said,  "  Doc- 
tor, this  is  a  plenty  patience  country."  So  Dr.  Daniel  Bliss  has 
found  it.  In  1870,  after  the  college  premises  had  been  bought,  a 
Moslem  neighbour  who  owned  a  fig  orchard  within  the  college 
plot  refused  to  sell.  His  family  begged  him  to  sell  and  move 
away  from  the  neighbourhood  of  the  great  crowd  of  students  but 
he  would  not  yield.  The  college  waited  and  waited,  until,  after 
twenty-nine  years  of  patience,  the  heirs  sold  the  fig  orchard,  the 
old  walls  were  demolished  and  the  college  line  straightened  along 
the  street. 

In  like  manner,  I  waited  eighteen  years  to  secure  the  Misk 
property  which  was  bought  in  1905.  It  adjoined  and  overlooked 
our  church,  Sunday-school,  and  girls'  seminary.  Colonel  Shepard 
gave  the  money  to  buy  it.  We  had  to  wait  eighteen  years  and 
then  our  patience  was  rewarded. 

Our  good  secretaries  at  home  sometimes  ask  more  questions  in 
a  letter  than  we  can  answer  in  a  dozen  letters.  Dr.  Brown  asks, 
"  Are  you  not  sacrificing  evangelistic  for  institutional  work  ?  "  I 
tried  to  reply : 

1.  That  missionary  institutions  are  the  press,  the  theological 
seminary,  translation  of  the  Scriptures  and  good  books,  the  prep- 
aration of  commentaries,  etc.,  the  boys'  and  girls'  boarding- 
schools,  and  hospital  work. 

2.  The  evangelistic  work  is  regular  preaching  in  the  churches 
and  itinerating  among  the  villages,  distributing  tracts,  holding  re- 
ligious meetings,  and  personal  work  for  individuals. 

3.  In  Syria,  we  have  four  stations,  Beirut,  Lebanon  and 
Bookaa,  Sidon,  and  Tripoli.  There  are  twelve  ordained  mission- 
aries, one  physician,  one  lay  teacher,  and  one  lay  press  manager, 
and  one  Free  Church  of  Scotland  missionary  teacher  and  doctor. 
Five  out  of  the  twelve  ordained  missionaries  are  free-lances, 
horseback  missionaries,  constantly  moving  about  the  fields  of 
Sidon,  Lebanon,  and  Tripoli.     Three  are  tied  up  in  the  work  of 


674  A  New  Century  Dawns 

theological  instruction  in  Beirut,  doing  also  constant  literary  work 
in  the  press.  Four  are  confined  the  most  of  the  year  in  the 
boarding-schools  in  Sidon,  Suk  el  Gharb,  and  Tripoli.  The 
medical  missionary,  Dr.  Harris,  divides  his  time  between  hospital 
work  in  Tripoli  and  itinerating  work  in  the  interior.  And  with 
regard  to  those  engaged  in  theological  instruction,  they  are  in  a 
truly  evangelical  work.  The  training  of  native  preachers  is  of 
vital  importance  and  is  the  hope  of  the  future  Syrian  church. 
The  boarding-schools  are  the  nurseries  of  the  church  and  the 
effect  wrought  in  moulding  character  and  building  up  the 
Christian  hfe  by  one  year's  continuous  instruction  in  a  boarding- 
school  is  worth  more  than  five  years'  transient  visits  to  scattered 
groups  in  the  villages. 

The  real  evangelistic  work  of  the  future  is  to  be  done  by 
native  evangelists  and  these  can  only  be  fitted  for  their  work  by 
large  and  systematic  Bible  study.  One  such  preacher  as  Mr. 
Yusef  Aatiyeh,  now  preaching  in  the  Beirut  church,  is  worth 
years  of  our  time  in  training  him.  He  has  no  peer  as  an  Arabic 
preacher.  Dr.  Brown  suggested  that  Dr.  W.  W.  Eddy  was  leav- 
ing evangelistic  work  to  enter  upon  the  "  institutional."  But  in 
fact,  Dr.  Eddy  was  giving  six  hours  a  day  to  the  preparation  of  a 
commentary  on  the  New  Testament  for  which  the  native 
preachers  and  people  of  Syria  have  been  waiting  for  years,  and 
which  will  be  a  blessing  to  the  Arabic  reading  races  through  all 
time.  And  in  addition,  he  has  a  regular  Arabic  preaching  ap- 
pointment. 

Teaching  the  Bible  is  evangelistic  work.  Translating,  editing, 
and  training  theological  students  are  only  different  forms  of  evan- 
gelistic work.  And  as  the  missions  grow  older  and  one  thing 
after  the  other  is  handed  over  to  the  natives,  the  foreign  mission- 
aries, with  their  long  experience  and  thorough  training,  will  more 
and  more  confine  themselves  to  the  training  of  a  native  ministry 
and  preparing  helps  for  their  work. 

There  is  a  charm  in  the  name  "  evangelistic  "  work,  but  there 
is  just  as  great  a  charm  in  the  same  work  done  in  the  same  spirit 
and  by  the  same  persons  under  a  different  name.     Let  us  not  say 


Keeping  in  Touch  With  the  Field  Work       675 

"  institutional  versus   evangelistic  work,"  but,  "  the  institutional 
for  the  sake  of  the  evangelistic  work." 

Then  came  another  momentous  question.  We  had  written 
urging  Dr.  Brown  to  visit  the  Syria  Mission  and  by  personal  con- 
ference aid  in  deciding  the  question  he  had  raised  as  to  our  tele- 
scoping our  four  boys'  boarding-schools  into  one  and  our  three 
girls'  boarding-schools  into  one  or  two.  It  was  intimated  from  our 
transatlantic  friends  that  secretarial  deputations  are  expensive  and 
should  only  be  resorted  to  in  case  of  pressing  necessity.  Where- 
upon I  was  moved  to  write  a  somewhat  prolix  defense  of  such 
visits,  under  the  following  heads  : 

1.  The  secretary  needs  such  a  visit  for  his  own  information. 
No  commander  of  an  army  can  conduct  a  campaign  ten  thousand 
miles  away  by  post  and  telegraph.  .  .  .  Secretaries  need  the 
information  which  comes  through  the  eye  and  ear.  Seeing  is  be- 
lieving, and  so  is  hearing, 

2.  The  secretary  should  know  the  missionaries  personally. 
Few  missionaries  can  make  the  personal  acquaintance  of  the 
secretary  when  home  on  furlough.  The  missionary  may  get  a 
snap-shot  at  a  secretary  at  the  mission  house  in  the  whirl  of  busi- 
ness or  meet  him  on  the  platform,  but  the  secretary  has  little 
more  leisure  than  a  Constantinople  porter  would  have  to  salute  a 
friend  while  tottering  under  a  five-hundred  pound  bale  of  mer- 
chandise. 

3.  It  is  impossible  to  grasp  the  great  problems  on  the  field 
without  personal  observation. 

4.  Such  a  visit  would  lighten  the  work  at  home  and  enable 
the  secretary  to  decide  intelligently  and  act  promptly,  when  other- 
wise he  must  await  lengthened  and  unsatisfactory  correspond- 
ence. 

5.  The  missions  need  it.  Our  missions  are  self-governing  and 
justly  so.  But  they  need  the  personal  counsel  of  men  familiar 
with  other  missions  in  other  lands.  The  Board  is  responsible  to 
the  churches  for  the  right  conduct  of  the  missions  and  responsi- 
bility   involves    control,  and  control  cannot  be  wisely  directed 


6/6  A  New  Century  Dawns 

without  that  personal  knowledge  which  comes  from  personal  in- 
tercourse. 

6.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  a  pastor  at  home  called  to  the 
secretaryship,  however  much  he  may  have  studied  foreign  mis- 
sions, can  grasp  all  the  questions  connected  with  Asiatic  and 
African  missions  without  a  visit  to  the  field. 

7.  The  expense  should  not  deter  the  Board  from  so  important 
a  service.  The  enhanced  value  of  a  secretary,  sent  out  on  such  a 
tour,  would  more  than  compensate  for  the  expense. 

About  thirty  years  ago,  Professors  Park  of  Andover  and  Hitch- 
cock and  H.  B.  Smith  of  Union  Seminary  visited  us  in  Syria. 
They  all  agreed,  as  the  result  of  their  tour  of  Palestine,  that  the 
best  possible  post-graduate  course  for  a  student  of  the  Book  was 
a  visit  to  the  land  of  the  Bible.  And  we  may  say  that  the  best 
possible  preparation  for  efficient  work  in  the  office  of  a  secretary 
at  home  is  a  thorough  visitation  of  the  mission  fields. 

The  Syria  Mission  was  visited  by  Dr.  R,  Anderson,  of  the 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  in  March,  1844  and  September  24,  1855;  by 
Dr.  N.  G.  Clark  in  1871  ;  Dr.  F.  F.  EUinwood  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board  in  February,  1875  ;  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell  in  March  24, 
1890;  and  Dr.  A.  J.  Brown  in  April,  1902. 

In  the  spring  and  summer  of  this  year,  after  extended  cor- 
respondence, the  Foreign  Missions  Committee  of  the  Free  Church 
of  Scotland  deeded  in  fee  simple,  or  rather  in  "  wukf  "  simple,  the 
entire  property  of  that  church  in  Shweir,  Mount  Lebanon,  to  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  American  Presbyterian  Church. 
"Wukf"  is  the  entail  of  property  for  religious  or  benevolent 
purposes,  and  the  income  of  wukf  property  cannot  be  alienated. 
The  deed  of  transfer  of  that  property,  consisting  of  manse, 
church,  and  boys'  and  girls'  school  buildings,  is  a  curiosity.  No 
Philadelphia  lawyer  could  tie  up  property  more  exhaustively 
than  has  been  done  in  this  case. 

I.     Dr.  W.  Carslaw  purchased  the  property. 


Wukf — Or  Religious  Entail  677 

2.  He  entailed  it  as  wukf  or  religious  foundation  to  Mr.  Mitry 
SuUeeba  as  agent  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland. 

3.  The  said  Free  Church  agreed  to  spend  the  income  of  the 
property  in  keeping  it  in  good  repair. 

4.  If  any  of  the  said  income  remains,  it  goes  to  the  Free 
Church  to  use  what  is  necessary  to  promote  its  own  interests. 

5.  After  that,  it  goes  to  the  poor,  male  and  female,  of  the 
said  church. 

6.  After  them,  to  the  poor  of  the  Protestant  Church  of 
Shweir. 

7.  After  them,  to  the  poor  of  the  Protestants  in  Lebanon. 

8.  After  these,  to  the  Protestant  poor  in  all  the  world. 

9.  If  all  these  perish,  then  to  the  poor  generally  of  all  the 
world,  and  then  he  shall  have  the  oversight  who  shall  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  spiritual  head  of  all  the  world  ! 

Now  as  to  the  management  of  this  wukf  property,  Dr.  Carslaw, 
when  deeding  it  to  the  Presbyterian  Board,  kept  to  himself  its 
management  while  he  is  in  his  present  position  as  missionary  of 
the  said  Free  Church. 

The  deed  of  transfer  contains  among  other  things  the  follow- 
ing : 

"  2.  Wukf  and  dedicated,  true  and  legal,  which  shall  not  be 
sold  nor  granted  nor  mortgaged,  neither  in  whole  nor  in  part 
but  shall  remain  intact  upon  its  foundations,  flowing  in  its  course, 
guarded  according  to  the  following  conditions,  mentioned  in  it, 
forever  and  ever,  and  forever,  until  God  shall  inherit  the  earth 
and  all  that  is  upon  it,  and  He  is  the  best  of  inheritors. 

"  3.  He  (Dr.  Carslaw)  wakkafed  this  to  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  well  known  and  testified 
of,  whose  centre  is  156  Fifth  Avenue  in  the  City  of  New  York 
in  the  United  States  of  America,  for  the  purposes  of  this  Board  in 
preaching  and  teaching  and  works  of  mercy  to  the  poor  as  long 
as  God  wills. 

"  4.  After  the  passing  away  of  this  Board,  this  wukf  shall  re- 
vert to  the  Board  which  takes  its  place  and  assumes  its  functions 
and  when  this  new  Board  fails  in  its  oversight  and  functions,  the 


678  A  New  Century  Dawns 

wukf  shall  revert  to  the  Protestant  poor  of  Shvveir,  as  stated  in 
Nos.  I  to  9  above." 

Fortunately,  another  clause  states  that  "  This  wukf  may  be 
exchanged  in  whole  or  in  part  when  necessary  for  what  shall  be 
of  greater  value  to  the  wukf." 

Dr.  Carslaw  still  continues  to  engage  in  medical  work,  preach- 
ing and  teaching  in  the  boys'  boarding-school.  The  school  is, 
financially,  nearly  self-supporting. 

In  February  I  heard  of  the  death  of  our  dear  friend,  Dr.  Charles 
S.  Robinson,  of  New  York.  We  spent  junior  year  together  in 
Union  Seminary,  and  the  intimacy  then  begun  has  never  ceased. 
He  was  a  loving  friend  and  brother.  When  in  Union,  he  sup- 
ported himself  and  helped  his  family  by  writing  articles  for  the 
magazines.  I  was  amazed  at  the  fecundity  of  his  brain  and  the 
variety  of  his  literary  productions.  His  service  to  the  whole 
Church  in  preparing  "  Songs  for  the  Sanctuary  "  was  invaluable. 
The  book  was  a  great  success  and  sold  by  the  hundred  thousands. 
His  profits  were  great  and  his  gifts  to  the  Church  were  great. 
The  Memorial  Church,  53d  Street  and  Madison  Avenue,  was 
built  chiefly  from  his  personal  gifts.  The  shadow  of  depression 
which  settled  upon  him  in  his  last  months  did  not  surprise  me, 
when  I  remembered  his  intense  mental  activity  for  the  forty-six 
years  of  our  acquaintance.  He  should  have  the  credit  of  having 
"set  the  pace  "  for  all  the  modern  "  hymn  "  and  "  tune"  books 
of  the  Protestant  Church.  His  lectures  on  ancient  Egypt  were 
eloquent  and  fascinating  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  he  did  not 
live  to  complete  his  great  work  on  Egypt.  On  my  last  visit  to 
him  in  New  York,  he  showed  me  a  portly  manuscript  volume  on 
Egypt,  and  said  that  he  was  at  work  on  Volume  11,  and  when 
finished  it  would  be  printed.  It  will  not  be  long  before  we  join 
him  in  singing  the  "  Songs  of  Zion "  in  the  upper  heavenly 
"  Sanctuary." 

I  had  some  experience,  as  usual,  this  year  with  escaped  monks. 
In  February,  four   young  monastic   novices    escaped  from  the 


Monastic  Fugitives  679 

Papal  Greek  monastery,  Deir  el  MukhuUis,  near  Sidon,  and  came 
to  Beirut.  They  said  they  had  become  Protestants  and  aban- 
doned the  monastic  order.  They  were  being  taught  theology  by 
an  enlightened  priest  who  wished  to  use  the  Bible  as  a  text-book. 
There  are  thirty  monks  in  that  monastery,  but  when  this  class 
asked  for  Bibles,  not  one  could  be  found  but  the  folio  copy  on 
the  chapel  desk.  So  they  sent  to  Beirut  and  bought  Bibles,  and 
a  six  months'  course  of  Bible  study  landed  them  outside  the  nar- 
row sacerdotal  teachings  of  Rome  in  the  full  liberty  of  justifica- 
tion by  faith  in  Christ.  They  soon  made  their  escape  from  their 
prison  walls,  cast  off  their  black  robes,  shaved  their  beards  and 
have  gone  to  work  as  Protestants,  farmers,  and  labourers  in  what- 
ever employment  they  could  find.  Their  reports  of  the  immo- 
ralities of  the  Syrian  monks  were  shocking  in  the  extreme  and 
they  said  they  felt  that  they  had  escaped  from  a  veritable  Sodom, 

Another  monk,  a  priest  from  the  same  sect,  from  Aleppo,  pro- 
fessed to  have  become  enlightened,  fled  to  New  York,  was  aided 
by  Father  O'Connor,  studied  in  the  Franco-American  school  in 
Springfield,  then  worked  in  a  factory.  But  hard  work  was  griev- 
ous to  one  trained  to  the  indolent  life  of  a  Syrian  priest.  He 
knew  no  trade,  had  not  sufficient  knowledge  of  English  to  teach 
or  to  fit  himself  for  preaching  and  fell  into  despair.  The  shrewd 
Romanists  in  New  York  offered  him  support  and  he  abjured 
Protestantism  and  went  back.  When  in  New  York  he  sent  me 
an  Arabic  manuscript  exposing  the  errors  and  immoralities  of 
the  Aleppo  Romish  clergy,  which  was  printed  in  Egypt  at  his 
request  and  distributed  in  Syria.  His  case  shows  the  hopeless- 
ness of  a  reform  among  the  Oriental  clergy.  If  they  leave  their 
ofifice  they  are  helpless.  Their  peculiar  training  or  want  of  train- 
ing unfits  them  for  practical  life. 

When  sincere  men  among  them  break  away,  as  so  many  are 
doing  in  France  and  Rome,  they  are  thrown  at  once  upon  chari- 
table aid.  Father  O'Connor  in  New  York  has  done  a  wonderful 
work  in  finding  avenues  for  self-support  for  so  many  ex-priests.  J 
always  advise  them  to  go  to  work  as  farmers,  carpenters,  01 
tailors  and  earn  their  bread  by  the  sweat  of  their  brows. 


68o  A  New  Century  Dawns 

The  monastic  system  is  unnatural,  unscriptural,  and  unsavoury. 
It  is  a  curse  to  modern  Syria.  The  best  part  of  the  fertile  land 
of  the  Lebanon  belongs  to  the  monasteries  and  the  peasants  are 
their  tenants.  Mr.  Butrus  el  Bistany,  himself  in  early  years  being 
trained  for  a  celibate  life,  used  to  say  that  in  those  days  no  one 
entered  the  monastic  life  except  the  half-witted  or  the  avaricious, 
that  is,  fools  or  knaves :  fools,  who  are  too  lazy  to  work,  or 
knaves,  who  hope  to  be  one  day  promoted  to  be  abbots  and  ap- 
propriate the  rich  revenues  to  themselves.  Some  day  a  new 
order  of  things  will  come  to  Syria  and  the  government  will  follow 
the  example  of  Italy  and  confiscate  all  this  monastic  property  and 
devote  it  to  popular  education.  As  it  is,  monasticism  is  the  great 
barrier  to  the  prosperity  and  development  of  the  fair  province  of 
Mount  Lebanon.  For  ages  the  monks  and  priests  have  extorted 
from  the  dying  money,  houses  and  lands,  until  the  condition  is 
becoming  intolerable. 

A  letter  to  our  mission  stated  that  it  was  "  better  to  build  twenty 
churches  at  ;^20  each  than  one  church  at  ^400."  We  replied  that 
the  cost  of  a  church  has  some  relation  to  the  cost  of  dwellings  in 
the  same  place.  On  the  Gaboon,  West  Africa,  a  native  house  or 
hut  of  reeds  and  thatch  costs  about  $4,  and  a  big  hut  to  be  used 
as  a  church  from  ^10  to  ^30,  chiefly  in  labour,  as  materials  cost 
nothing. 

In  Syria,  the  half-naked  Arabs  of  Jericho  live  in  thatch  huts, 
but  the  villagers  of  Syria  and  Palestine  in  stone  houses,  which 
cost  from  ;^ioo  to  ^200,  or  more,  as  timber  is  scarce  and  costly 
and  the  walls  are  double  walls  of  hard  limestone  or  trap  rock. 
In  Zahleh  and  the  villages  north  and  around  Hamath,  the  houses 
are  of  adobe  or  sun-dried  brick,  but  in  all  the  villages  over  the 
land,  the  churches  and  mosques  are  built  of  stone,  and  a  plain 
edifice,  twice  the  size  of  a  dwelling-house,  to  hold  seventy-five  to 
one  hundred  people  sitting  on  mats  on  the  floor,  would  cost  about 
;^400  or  ;^50o.  The  most  of  the  churches  and  mosques  in  the 
cities  are  massive  and  expensive  edifices,  with  high  arched  ceil- 
ings and  beautiful  colunins.     The  suggestion  of  a   missionary 


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New  Power  Set  in  Motion  68 1 

board  that  ;^20  churches  be  built  is  out  of  the  question  in  Syria. 
The  principle  of  strict  economy  is  sound,  but  it  can  hardly  imply 
that  the  Christians  in  Syria  are  to  worship  in  "  wood,  hay,  and 
stubble  "  houses,  like  the  half-naked  savages  of  Africa.  A  relig- 
ious edifice  here  is  supposed  to  be  at  least  respectable,  and,  as  a 
fact,  almost  all  the  modern  churches  in  Syria  of  all  sects  have 
been  built  with  foreign  help.  The  American  Board  from  1850  to 
1870  opposed  the  building  of  church  edifices  here.  But  when 
Dr.  N.  G.  Clark  came  here  in  1871  and  saw  the  Beirut  church 
building,  he  was  greatly  gratified  and  said,  "  You  are  right. 
Protestantism  has  come  to  stay."  Of  thatch  and  reed  matting 
one  could  hardly  say,  "  It  has  come  to  stay." 

On  Monday,  October  2,  1899,  at  3  p.  m.,  a  goodly  company  of 
foreign  missionaries,  Syrian  friends,  and  employees  of  the  Amer- 
ican Press  at  Beirut  assembled  in  the  press  room  of  the  printing- 
house  to  celebrate  by  appropriate  religious  exercises  the  inaugu- 
ration of  a  new  cylinder  press.  The  old  press,  presented  years 
ago  by  the  American  Bible  Society,  and  used  for  printing  the 
Arabic  Scriptures,  was  showing  the  infirmities  of  age,  and  this 
new  machine  had  just  been  set  up  and  got  ready  for  work. 

After  the  benediction,  Mr.  Freyer  requested  the  youngest  mis- 
sionary of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Syria,  who  had  arrived  only 
that  morning  from  the  United  States,  Miss  Rachel  Tolles,  of  the 
Beirut  Female  Seminary,  to  turn  on  the  steam  and  set  the  new 
Bible  press  in  motion,  and  the  freshly  printed  sheets  of  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis  were  distributed  to  the  visitors  present  as 
mementoes  of  this  memorable  occasion. 

Among  the  varied  events  of  this  year  were  the  visits  of  Rev.  Dr. 
G.  J.  Nichols  of  Binghamton  and  Dr.  Richards  of  Plainfield ;  a 
letter  from  Sir  Arthur  Cotton  in  England,  aged  ninety-six,  who 
was  writing  a  book  and  wrote  to  ask  about  Asaad  es  Shidiak. 
Sir  Arthur  was  in  Syria  in  1832,  the  year  of  my  birth.  I  wrote 
him,  "  Truly  the  Lord  has  been  good  to  you  in  prolonging  your 
life  and  vigour  to  such  a  good  old  age,  hke  a  cedar  of  Lebanon 
bringing  forth  fruit  in  old  age." 


682  A  New  Century  Dawns 

This  year  the  British  Syrian  Mission  took  up  the  Shemlan 
Girls'  Boarding-SchooI,  owing  to  the  disbanding  of  the  "  Society 
for  Promoting  Female  Education  in  the  East." 

Mrs.  Dale  and  Miss  Emily  Bird  visited  Rishmeiya,  where  Mr. 
Bird  had  a  school  and  a  preaching  service.  The  women  and  girls 
were  deeply  impressed.  I  spent  Sunday  there  with  Mr.  Bird  in 
August  and  on  Sunday  night,  after  the  service,  as  we  sat  in  the 
open  air  in  the  moonlight,  a  young  girl  about  fifteen,  who  is  lame, 
said  to  Mr.  Bird,  "  We  are  so  glad  Mrs.  Dale  and  Miss  Bird  came 
here.  I  had  never  dreamed  that  there  were  such  women  in  the 
world.  I  was  astonished  at  their  words.  They  did  not  talk  on 
the  frivolous  subjects  we  women  talk  about.  They  told  us  of 
heavenly  things  and  holy  living.  I  feel  that  a  change  is  coming 
over  me.  I  am  not  what  I  was.  Let  them  come  again  and 
soon."  She  is  now  learning  to  read  with  great  zeal,  and  next 
month  Mrs.  Dale  is  going  again  to  spend  a  fortnight. 

In  December  the  winter  rains  set  in  with  unusual  violence. 
The  Lebanon  gorges,  which  are  mostly  dry  in  summer,  were 
filled  with  boiling,  roaring  torrents,  hurrying  to  the  sea.  The 
famous  Dog  River  rose  in  freshet  and  swept  away  the  massive 
stone  wagon  bridge  and  the  railway  iron  bridge  below  it,  just 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river  where  it  empties  into  the  sea. 

As  the  year  closed,  we  were  all  anxiously  watching  the  resist- 
less progress  of  heart  disease,  which  was  gradually  weakening  Dr. 
Eddy's  hold  on  life.  From  hour  to  hour  he  was  expecting  the 
summons  and  ready  to  meet  his  Lord. 

1900 — Rev.  W.  W.  Eddy,  D.  D.,  a  beloved  brother  and  man  of 
God,  entered  into  rest  on  January  26th,  aged  seventy-four  years. 
Like  a  shock  of  corn  fully  ripe,  after  a  life  of  arduous  labours  and 
faithful  witnessing  for  Christ,  he  is  summoned  to  go  up  higher. 
Having  known  him  for  forty-four  years  as  a  fellow  missionary,  I 
am  glad  to  testify  to  the  pure  and  noble  life  he  has  led. 

Wm.  Woodbridge  Eddy  was  born  in  Penn  Yan,  N.  Y.,  Decem- 


Dr.  Eddy's  Service  683 

ber  18,  1825,  his  father,  Rev.  Dr.  Chauncey  Eddy,  being  at  that 
time  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church.  His  father  and  mother 
had  been  accepted  as  missionaries  of  the  American  Board  in  1823, 
but  ill  health  had  prevented  their  going.  The  father  then  prayed 
that  God  would  raise  up  one  of  his  children  to  take  his  place,  and 
his  son,  William,  grew  up  with  the  idea  that  God  would  enable 
him  to  go  as  a  substitute  for  his  father.  He  prepared  for  college 
under  Dr.  Chester  in  Saratoga  in  1841,  graduated  from  Williams 
College  in  1845,  taught  school  for  two  years,  graduated  from 
Union  Theological  Seminary  in  1850,  married  Miss  Hannah 
Maria  Condit  of  Oswego,  N.  Y.,  in  November,  1851,  and  then 
sailed  for  Smyrna  on  the  bark  Sultantty  arriving  in  Beirut  January 
31,  1852. 

He  laboured  in  Aleppo  four  years,  until  1856,  then  one  year  in 
Kefr  Shima,  until  September,  1857,  when  he  removed  to  Sidon. 
In  that  extensive  field  he  laboured  for  twenty-one  years,  and 
then  came  to  our  help  in  Beirut  where  I  was  intimately  associated 
with  him  for  eighteen  years. 

Among  his  fellow  passengers  on  the  Sultana  were  Dr.  Lobdell 
of  Mosul,  Mr.  Morgan  of  Antioch,  and  Mr.  Sutphen  of  Trebizond. 
Of  all  the  missionaries  whom  he  and  his  wife  met  on  their  arrival 
in  Smyrna  and  Beirut,  only  Mrs.  Dr.  Van  Dyck  of  Beirut  and 
Mrs.  S.  H.  Calhoun  of  Natal,  South  Africa,  still  remain. 

In  1875  the  University  of  New  York  conferred  upon  him  the 
degree  of  D.  D. 

In  1858  his  father  and  mother  visited  Syria.  They  made  tours 
with  their  son  to  the  different  outstations  of  the  Sidon  field,  at- 
tending communion  services,  the  father  speaking  through  the 
son  as  interpreter  to  the  numerous  congregations.  He  would 
often  exclaim,  as  did  Simeon  of  old,  that  now  he  was  ready  to 
depart  because  he  had  realized  his  prayer  and  hope.  He  would 
have  rejoiced  with  still  greater  joy  could  he  have  anticipated  that 
three  of  his  grandchildren  would  be  colleague  missionaries  with 
their  parents  :  Rev.  Wm.  King  Eddy,  for  twenty  years  in  Sidon, 
Mrs.  Harriette  M.  Hoskins,  from  1876  to  1888  in  Sidon,  in  Zahleh 
from   1888  to    1900  and  since  then  in  Beirut,  Dr.  Mary  Pierson 


684  A  New  Century  Dawns 

Eddy,  who  came  in  December,  1893,  to  be  a  general  medical  mis- 
sionary, itinerating  in  different  parts  of  the  field,  but  connected 
with  Beirut  station. 

After  an  illness  of  more  than  four  months,  struggling  with  the 
shortness  of  breath  resultant  from  heart  disease,  he  gently  fell 
asleep  on  January  26th,  in  the  early  morning.  His  bedchamber 
was  peace.  His  mind  retained  its  great  vigour  and  activity  to 
the  last.  All  the  members  of  the  mission  were  present  at  his 
funeral,  having  come  by  sea  and  land,  and  all  excepting  his  son 
and  son-in-law  took  part,  with  the  Syrian  pastors,  in  the  funeral 
service,  which  was  attended  by  a  great  concourse  of  natives  and 
foreigners,  with  students  of  the  college  and  the  American,  Eng- 
lish, and  German  boarding-schools.  The  pall-bearers  were  eight 
American  and  English  young  men  and  eight  Syrian  brethren. 
The  Arabic  address  was  by  H.  H.  Jessup  and  the  English  by 
Dr.  George  A.  Ford. 

My  love  for  Dr.  Eddy  was  that  of  a  brother.  I  had  known 
him  in  joy  and  in  sorrow,  in  labours  oft,  in  journeying,  in  teach- 
ing the  theological  students,  in  the  Church  and  Sunday-school,  in 
the  business  management  of  the  press. 

For  fifteen  years  he  gave  the  best  of  his  strength  to  the  Arabic 
Commentary  on  the  New  Testament  which  was  completed  July 
29,  1899,  just  three  weeks  before  the  stroke  of  heart  disease  which 
laid  him  aside  from  active  labour.  The  commentary  was  com- 
piled from  the  best  modern  works  and  is  eminently  practical, 
spiritual,  and  homiletical  and  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  evan- 
gelical communities  in  the  East.  It  is  in  five  volumes  octavo, 
comprising  in  all  3,033  pages.  Dr.  Eddy  was  scholarly,  accurate, 
judicious,  a  safe  counsellor,  and  a  thorough  missionary  in  the  best 
sense  of  the  word  and  in  every  fibre  of  his  being.  The  spiritual 
impression  of  his  godly  hfe  will  long  remain  in  this  land.  He 
was  studious,  yet  practical ;  sound,  level-headed  ;  modest,  yet  bold 
as  a  lion. 

His  English  style  was  clear,  concise,  and  ornate.  His  hand- 
writing was  like  steel  engraving  and  it  was  a  comfort  to  receive 
his  letters.     One  can  hardly  claim  that  a  man  is  known  by  his 


The  Temperance  Reading-Room  685 

handwriting,  as  several  of  our  most  eminent  missionaries  have  had 
a  handwriting  which  was  simply  execrable, — but  there  was  a  cor- 
respondence between  the  clearness  of  his  handwriting  and  the 
classic  purity  of  his  style. 

He  was  a  builder.  I  remember  seeing  him  at  one  time  on  the 
steep  zinc  roof  of  the  Khiyam  church  near  Mount  Hermon,  re- 
pairing the  leaks  in  the  blazing  sun,  and  at  another  overhauling 
a  gang  of  masons  and  carpenters  in  the  summer  heat  in  Sidon, 
repairing  and  rebuilding  the  old  Abela  house  for  the  girls'  board- 
ing-school. He  proved  the  truth  of  the  maxim  that  a  foreign 
missionary  must  be  a  many-sided  man,  and  that  no  gift  nor  ac- 
complishment is  lost  in  the  life  of  one  who  would  be  all  things  to 
all  men  and  make  his  work  most  effective. 

That  church  in  Khiyam  was  the  occasion  of  serious  discussion 
in  the  mission.  And  the  same  question  arose  with  regard  to 
other  churches  roofed  with  zinc  or  corrugated  iron.  Why  build 
roofs  of  materials  which  the  people  themselves  cannot  use  nor  re- 
pair ?  The  Syrian  churches  of  the  old  sects  are  generally  arched 
with  vaulted  roofs  of  solid  masonry  with  earthen  roofs  which  they 
can  roll  and  keep  in  repair.  Owing  to  the  rapid  development  of 
the  country  and  the  introduction  of  French-tiled  roofs  in  the 
small  villages,  there  would  be  no  need  to-day  of  a  missionary's 
doing  what  Dr.  Eddy  did  forty  years  ago  in  El  Khiyam. 

Early  in  February,  through  the  earnest  efforts  of  American  and 
English  ladies,  led  by  Mrs,  Jessup,  and  the  Syrian  Y.  M,  C.  A.,  a 
Christian  temperance  reading-room  was  opened  in  Beirut  to  fur- 
nish a  counter  attraction  to  the  young  men  of  the  city  who  would 
otherwise  be  drawn  into  the  saloons  and  gambling  hells  of  the 
city.  It  has  proved  a  great  success,  and  what  remains  to  make 
it  a  permanent  blessing  is  a  building  for  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and 
reading-rooms,  which  shall  be  designed  especially  for  this  object. 

In  the  readjustment  following  the  death  of  Dr.  Eddy,  Rev. 
F.  E.  Hoskins,  of  Zahleh,  was  transferred  to  Beirut.     Mr.  Yusef 


686  A  New  Century  Dawns 

Aatiyeh,  the  eloquent  and  earnest  preacher  of  the  Beirut  church, 
was  obliged  by  reasons  of  health  to  leave  for  Tripoli  and  Rev. 
Asaad  Abdullah  was  called  to  his  place. 

In  February  a  young  Moslem  convert,  Haj  Kasim,  from 
M'arrat  Naaman,  north  of  Hamath,  came  to  Beirut  seeking  work 
and  finally  left  for  Egypt.  The  same  month  we  received  into  the 
Beirut  church  seven  Moslem  and  Druse  maidens,  all  of  whom 
were  intelligent  Christians. 

In  October  Mrs.  Gerald  F.  Dale  began  her  work  in  the  distant 
outpost  of  Ras  Baalbec,  instructing  and  visiting  the  women  and 
girls  of  that  far-off  and  uncouth  region.  Hardship,  exposure,  the 
vicinity  of  the  notorious  robbers  and  sheep  thieves  of  the  clans 
of  Dendesh  and  Harfoosh,  and  the  annual  visits  of  the  nomad 
Aneyzy  Arabs  have  made  the  villagers  hardy,  rough,  and  brave. 
Mr.  Dale  opened  the  way  there  for  a  school  and  won  their  confi- 
dence, and  in  spite  of  monks  and  nuns  and  every  species  of  ma- 
licious persecution,  a  few  stand  firm  and  the  school  has  greatly 
prospered. 

The  mission  boarding  and  day-schools  were  all  increasing  in 
numbers,  in  financial  income  and  in  influence  in  the  land. 

Dr.  Mary  P.  Eddy,  having  been  physically  prostrated  by 
months  of  constant  watching  at  her  father's  bedside,  was  ordered 
on  furlough  to  America  February  27,  1900. 

Five  theological  students  graduated  at  Suk  el  Gharb,  Novem- 
ber 7th,  and  went  out  to  their  fields  of  labour. 

I  November  12th,  by  the  advice  of  our  physician,  Mrs.  Jessup 
'and  I  took  the  Austrian  steamer  Helios  for  Haifa  to  spend  a 
^  season  at  Hotel  Pross  on  Mount  Carmel.  There  is  no  more  rest- 
,'  ful  place  in  Syria.  The  scenery  is  inspiring  and  the  absolute 
''  quiet  of  that  German  hotel  and  its  clean,  wholesome  appointments 
give  one  just  the  rest  and  refreshment  that  the  weary  in  mind 
and   body  need.     We  remained  the  first  day  after  landing  at 


Calling  on  the  Babite  Leader  687 

Hotel  Carmel  in  the  German  colony,  and  there  were  brought  into 
contact  with  the  Babites.  An  American  lady,  who  became  enam- 
oured of  this  system  of  mysticism,  was  at  the  hotel,  and  Captain 
Wells,  a  chaplain  from  the  Philippines,  had  come  there  for  the 
express  purpose  of  keeping  her  out  of  that  abyss  of  religious  plati- 
tudes. We  spent  four  and  a  half  hours  in  conversation  with  her. 
She  could  give  no  reason  for  following  Abbas  Efifendi,  excepting 
a  kind  of  hypnotic  fascination.  Abbas  Effendi's  two  brothers, 
Mohammed  All  and  Bedea,  were  then  in  a  bitter  quarrel  with 

him,  and  Mrs. said  that  Abbas  feared  for  his  life.     While 

we  were  talking,  a  tall  youth  with  a  long  Persian  coat  passed  the 
door  and  stopped.  She  called  out,  "  There  he  is,  that  awful 
creature.  He  is  trying  to  kill  Abbas,  and  is  a  spy  trying  to  hear 
what  we  are  saying." 

The  next  day,  by  invitation,  I  called  with  Captain  Wells  on 
Abbas  Effendi.  I  published  in  the  Outlook  a  full  account  of  my 
conversation  with  him  in  Arabic.  He  is  an  elderly  and  venerable 
man,  very  similar  to  scores  of  venerable  Moslem  and  Druse 
sheikhs  I  have  met  in  this  land.  I  can  understand  how  an  intel- 
ligent Moslem  might  be  attracted  to  Babism,  on  account  of  its 
liberality  towards  other  sects,  as  contrasted  with  the  narrow  con- 
ceited illiberality  of  Islam.  But  I  cannot  understand  how  a  true 
Christian  can  possibly  exchange  the  liberty  with  which  Christ 
makes  us  free  and  the  clear,  consistent  plan  of  salvation  through 
a  Redeemer,  for  the  misty  and  mystical  platitudes  of  Babism.  It 
has  helped  in  breaking  up  the  solidity  of  Islam  in  Persia,  but  is 
becoming  more  and  more  of  a  "  sect."  It  may  result  in  good  if 
it  spreads  among  the  Sunni  Moslems  of  Turkey  and  Egypt  as 
it  has  among  the  Shiahs  of  Persia. 

An  extensive  movement  towards  Babism,  or  the  doctrine  of 
the  Mystic  Shadhilees,  would  do  more  than  anything  else  to 
break  up  Pan-Islamism. 

In  March,  1901,  Rev.  Mr.  Bray  of  Wisconsin  dined  with  Mo- 
hammed Ali  and  Bedea  Effendi,  brothers  of  Abbas.  They 
showed  him  the  tomb  of  their  father,  Beha  Allah,  who  they  in- 
sisted was   an   incarnation  of  the  Holy  Ghost.     "  What,"  said 


688  A  New  Century  Dawns 

Mr.  Bray,  "  is  this  the  tomb  of  a  dead  Holy  Ghost  f  "  Mohammed 
Effendi  was  perplexed  and  made  no  reply. 

Any  religious  system  which  depends  on  the  life  of  one  man  or 
family  must  tumble  one  day  from  its  foundation  of  sand. 

I  left  Abbas  Effendi  with  the  painful  feeling  that  he  was  accept- 
ing divine  honours  from  simple-minded  women  from  America 
and  receiving  their  gifts  of  gold,  without  a  protest  or  rebuke. 

I  hear  that  his  younger  brother,  Bedea,  has  become  reconciled 
to  him,  but  I  would  not  guarantee  that  his  main  object  is  not  to 
gain  his  share  of  the  money  which  is  in  the  possession  of  Abbas 
Effendi.  It  is  not  long  since  he  was  threatening  to  kill  Abbas, 
and  assassination  is  an  old  fashion  of  Persian  fanatics. 

In  December  an  American  woman  was  brought  ashore  from 
a  steamer  and  placed  in  St.  John's  Hospital  in  Beirut  in  a  state 
of  collapse.  When  sufficiently  revived  to  speak,  she  said  she 
was  Mrs. of  Chicago,  and  had  left  contrary  to  her  hus- 
band's request  to  visit  the  Bab  Incarnation,  Abbas  Effendi  of 
Acre.  She  was  literally  starved  through  seasickness,  and  before 
her  death,  she  moaned  and  mourned  her  folly  in  leaving  her 
husband  and  home  to  visit  the  "  Master  "  Abbas.  An  autopsy 
revealed  perforation  of  the  coats  of  the  stomach.  The  poor 
woman  had  taken  this  long  journey  alone  and  must  have  suffered 
untold  agonies,  ignorant  of  the  language  and  helpless  through 
seasickness  in  a  winter  voyage.  Yet  to  what  lengths  of  ex- 
posure will  religious  delusion  drive  people !  This  Holy  Land  is 
the  happy  hunting-ground  of  cranks  and  visionaries  of  all  stripes, 
Oriental  and  Occidental. 

One  of  the  recent  woman  pilgrims  to  the  shrine  of  Abbas 
Effendi  was  an  English-speaking  woman  who  stated  that  she  had 
been  successively  an  Agnostic,  Christian  Scientist,  and  Theos- 
ophist  and  now  was  going  to  try  Abbasism.  Palestine,  whether 
it  ever  witnesses  the  turning  of  the  Jews  from  Europe  and 
America  to  their  old  fatherland  or  not,  is  certainly  now  witness- 
ing the  "  turning  of  the  cranks." 

1900 — After  forty-four  years  of  residence  in  Syria,  I  cheerfully 


Attractive  Syrian  Traits  689 

bear  my  testimony  to  the  many  attractive  traits  in  the  character 
of  the  Syrian  people  of  the  Arab  race. 

1.  Their  hospitahty.  This  is  proverbial  and  it  is  real.  Whether 
among  the  Bedawin  Arabs  of  the  desert,  or  the  dwellers  in  cities 
and  villages,  they  are  kind  and  liberal  in  entertaining  strangers. 
And  they  do  it  with  great  kindness  and  native  courtesy  even 
among  the  very  poor.  On  great  occasions,  such  as  weddings  or 
betrothals,  they  invite  literally  the  whole  village  to  a  feast.  If 
Europeans,  in  travelling,  reach  their  village,  the  best  house  will 
be  put  at  their  disposal. 

2.  Their  fondness  for  their  children.  No  people  are  more 
fond  of  children,  and  since  education  is  available,  they  are  all 
anxious  to  educate  their  children.  And  the  Syrian  children  are 
very  bright,  attractive,  and  lovable,  and  will  compare  favourably 
with  the  children  of  any  other  people. 

3.  Their  aptness  to  learn.  You  would  be  pleased  to  hear  the 
little  Arab  boys  and  girls  recite  by  heart  whole  chapters  of  the 
Bible.     Their  memories  are  remarkable. 

4.  They  are  a  naturally  religious  people,  and  a  man  without  a 
religion  of  some  kind  would  be  looked  upon  as  a  strange  creature. 
And  they  believe  in  divinely  inspired  books,  whether  the  Koran 
or  the  Bible. 

5.  The  literature  of  the  Arab  race  is  very  extensive  and  beau- 
tiful. Their  poetry  is  exquisite  and  their  proverbs  have  no  su- 
perior in  any  language.  The  Arabic  language  is  capable  of  great 
eloquence  and  great  nicety  of  expression  and  the  people  are  very 
fond  of  it. 

6.  Many  of  their  educated  men,  trained  in  the  missionary  col- 
leges and  schools,  are  now  filling  high  positions  as  editors,  clerks, 
business  managers,  physicians,  preachers,  and  teachers  in  all  parts 
of  this  empire,  in  Egypt,  and  in  North  Africa. 

7.  They  have  caught  the  enterprising  spirit  of  Western  civili- 
zation and  are  starting  out  in  a  new  Phoenician  migration  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth,  seeking  to  better  their  condition  ;  and  at  some 
time  in  the  future  the  more  solid  and  reliable  part  of  them  will 
corne  back  to  benefit  and  elevate  their  country. 


690  A  New  Century  Dawns 

8.  The  evangelical  churches  scattered  throughout  Syria  have 
many  members  whose  pure  and  consecrated  lives  are  a  living 
witness  to  their  sincerity  and  faith.  Thousands  of  the  children 
are  in  Christian  schools,  in  preparation  for  future  usefulness. 

9.  Some  of  these  Syrian  believers  have  been  an  honour  to  the 
Church  of  Christ. 

Dr.  Samuel  Jessup  and  his  daughter  Fanny  went  June  11, 
1900,  by  invitation  of  a  friend,  to  the  Paris  Exposition,  and  took 
with  them  a  box  of  Arabic  Scriptures  to  be  given  to  the  Arabic- 
speaking  visitors  from  Morocco,  Algiers,  Tunis,  and  Egypt.  At 
this  time,  also,  Arabic  Testaments  were  given  freely  to  the  hun- 
dreds of  emigrants  going  from  Syria  to  North  and  South  America. 
ijune  20th  our  daughter  Amy  was  married  to  Rev.  Paul  Erdman. 
They  had  been  appointed  missionaries  to  Korea.     All  prepa- 

\  rations  were  made  for  their  journey  to  the  far  East,  when  sud- 
denly there  came  another  voice,  not  from  the  cloud,  but  from 
under  the  sea,  "  Assigned  to  Syria,"  and  the  dear  children  were 
given  back  to  us  and  to  Syria.  The  Board  had  come  to  see 
our  need  of  reinforcement  since   Dr.  Eddy's  death,  and  accord- 

.  ingly  reversed  their  former  decision. 

f  Just  eighteen  months  afterwards,  the  dear  daughter  in  giving 
life  lost  her  own,  and  her  monument  stands  among  the  olive 
trees  east  of  Sidon  where  she  had  begun  her  missionary  life. 
Only  a  parent  can  understand  the  anguish  of  that  hour  when  we 
saw  her  hfe  ebbing  away.  So  beautiful,  so  vigorous,  so  well 
fitted  by  nature  and  grace  to  honour  her  Lord  and  Saviour  by 
loving,  faithful  service  in  Syria,  she  had  won  all  hearts,  and  now  so 
suddenly  summoned  away  !  We  were  indeed  stricken  and  smitten, 
but  found  it  sweet  and  comforting  to  say,  "  Thy  will  be  done." 
She  was  His  and  He  called  her  home. 

,  "  That  life  is  long  which  answers  life's  best  end,"  and  she  hath 
lione  what  she  could  to  serve  the  Master  in  the  land  of  her  birth. 
May  her  son,  Frederick  Erdman,  live  to  witness  for  Christ  in 
Syria  or  some  other  mission  as  his  Uncle  Frederick  is  doing  in 
Persia ! 


SEVENTIETH  BIRTHDAY  PICNIC  TO  DOG  RIVER 
ANCIENT  MULE  BRIDGE  OVER  DOG  RIVER 


The  Christian  Endeavourers  69] 

On  April  14th  a  remarkable  body  of  Christian  tourists,  known 
as  "  Christian  Endeavour  Party,"  led  by  Dr.  Wilbur  Chapman  and 
Dr.  Shaw,  left  Beirut  for  Constantinople,  the  whole  company  sing- 
ing in  chorus, "  God  be  with  you  till  we  meet  again,"  and  as  we 
rowed  away  to  the  shore,  with  such  a  farewell,  we  felt  as  if  a  part 
of  our  own  family  were  leaving  us.  On  Good  Friday,  Dr.  Shaw 
preached  in  the  American  Church  and  in  the  evening,  the  Syrian 
Christian  Endeavourers  gave  a  reception  to  the  hundred  tourists 
and  some  forty  resident  Americans  and  English  in  the  Memorial 
Sunday-School  Hall.  After  a  social  reunion  and  simple  refresh- 
ments, addresses  were  made  by  Drs.  Shaw,  Chapman,  and 
Countermine  and  responded  to  by  Syrians  and  missionaries.  The 
opening  prayer  was  offered  by  a  missionary  son,  Dr.  Ford  of 
Sidon,  and  the  benediction  by  a  missionary  grandson.  Rev. 
Ezekiel  Scudder  of  the  Arcot  Mission  in  India.  Time  would  fail 
me  to  mention  the  names  of  all  the  good  and  great  men  in  that 
goodly  company.  They  brought  a  blessing  to  us  and  to  our 
Syrian  friends  and  will,  no  doubt,  carry  ^  blessing  to  their  homes. 

In  June,  1900,  two  men  with  their  wives,  converts  from  Islam, 
passed  through  here,  en  route  for  Egypt.  They  were  brought  to 
accept  Christ  through  their  godly  Protestant  neighbours  in  an 
interior  city  and  after  long  probation  were  received  as  brethren. 
We  obtained  passage  for  them  on  a  steamer  bound  for  Alexan- 
dria, and  they  went  to  their  new  home  in  Egypt,  where  they  en- 
gaged at  once  in  self-supporting  work  and  gave  great  satisfaction 
by  their  sincerity  and  steadfastness.  The  old  mother  of  one  of 
the  women  insisted  on  coming  with  them  to  Beirut  and  after  they 
sailed,  returned  to  Damascus. 

In  order  to  relieve  the  minds  of  the  brethren  who  sent  them  on 
to  us  and  who  feared  they  might  be  prevented  from  sailing,  I 
wrote  a  letter  to  one  of  them  as  follows  : 

"  The  goods  you  forwarded  to  us  came  safely  and  we  shipped 
them  to  Egypt  by  the  khedivial  steamer  June  30th  to  our  busi- 
ness agent.  The  large  bale,  which  was  found  too  old  for  ship- 
ment, we  returned  to  the  Damascus  agent  to  be  forwarded  to 


692  A  New  Century  Dawns 

you.     We  have  hopes   of  great  profit  from  the  portion  sent  to 
Egypt." 

The  reason  for  writing  in  this  commercial  style  was  that  an 
Arabic  letter  giving  the  literal  facts  might  have  been  read  by  the 
postal  police,  and  brought  some  of  the  parties  concerned  into 
trouble. 

"  Should  Missionary  Work  be  Kept  on  in  China  ? " 
In  September  my  friend,  Miss  Holmes  of  Pittsburg,  in  a  letter 
on  missions,  asked  me  the  above  question,  in  view  of  the  dread- 
ful massacres  by  the  Boxers.  I  replied  that  the  true  soldier  of 
Jesus  Christ  will  never  give  up  as  long  as  there  are  men  to  be 
saved.  The  Christians  in  Madagascar  were  burned  alive,  cast 
down  precipices,  and  cruelly  tortured,  but  God's  Word  remained 
and  the  missionaries  went  back  and  were  more  successful  than 
ever.  In  i860  Syria  was  desolated  with  fire  and  sword.  Thou- 
sands of  Christians  were  massacred,  churches,  schools  and  homes 
destroyed.  Some  thought  we  should  come  home  and  leave  such 
a  land.  They  said,  "  Wind  up  and  come  home."  We  did  wind 
up  the  machine,  and  it  has  kept  running  for  forty-eight  years 
with  no  sign  of  needing  another  winding  at  present.  The 
Church  will  have  to  wind  up  its  mission  clock  in  China  afresh. 
We  would  not  give  up  or  leave  the  country.  We  fed  and 
clothed  some  20,000  refugees  in  Beirut  who  had  come  from 
Damascus,  Hasbeiya,  and  Lebanon.  And  from  that  time  has  be- 
gun a  new  interest  in  Christianity  all  over  Syria.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  the  same  will  eventually  be  the  result  in  China.  It 
may  be  delayed  by  the  rapacity,  land  hunger,  and  jealousies  of 
the  European  Powers,  but  some  day  and  in  some  way,  the  Lord, 
who  bought  that  people  with  such  a  precious  ransom,  will  see  to  it 
that  they  have  the  light  and  comfort  of  the  Gospel.  Alas,  that 
the  Christian  Church  should  have  waited  so  long  before  sending 
the  Gospel  to  China. 

Dr.  Brown  visited  China  in  1901  and  I  wrote  to  him,  "  If  you 
cannot  rectify  everything  in  China  during  your  visit,  be  content 
to  let  the  Lord  finish  up  the  job." 


Murder — But  Only  a  Christian  Dog!  693 

In  September  the  Moslem  roughs  in  Haifa  insulted  a  body  of 
German  women  from  the  colony  who  were  bathing  in  the  sea. 
The  German  consul  obtained  the  severe  punishment  of  the  of- 
fenders. The  Turks  will  not  allow  outrages  upon  the  subjects  of 
Emperor  William,  above  all,  the  peaceable  colonists  in  Haifa. 


On  the  1st  of  October,  Abdullah,  the  American  Press  watch- 
man in  Beirut,  was  found  brutally  murdered  and  mutilated  in  his 
room  and  the  money  drawer  of  the  office  broken  open.  The 
murderer  found  little  money.  Suspicion  fell  on  a  young  Moslem. 
In  entering  the  press  over  the  wall,  he  had  stepped  into  a  bed  of 
soft  mortar  and  left  the  exact  impression  of  his  bare  foot.  The 
Moslem  was  brought  and  his  foot  exactly  fitted  the  mould.  The 
evidence  against  him  was  clear,  but  as  he  was  a  Moslem,  and  had 
only  killed  a  Christian  infidel  dog,  he  was  soon  released.  There 
is  hardly  a  case  on  record  where  a  Moslem  has  been  executed 
for  the  "  highly  meritorious  "  act  of  killing  a  Christian.  Their 
sacred  book  and  law  allow  it,  and  a  Mohammedan  government 
is  not  adapted  to  rule  over  a  semi-Christian,  semi-Moslem  people. 
The  day  has  passed  when  a  purely  sectarian  government  can  rule 
justly  and  without  constant  friction  over  a  mixed  population.  It 
is  religiously  obliged  to  discriminate  in  all  cases  in  favour  of  one 
sect  and  against  all  others. 

I  translated  Rev.  S.  M.  Zwemer's  statistical  table  of  the  Moslem 
population  of  the  world,  giving  it  as  196,000,000.  On  sending 
it  to  the  Mudir  el  Maarif,  he  prohibited  its  publication  on  the 
ground  that  the  Emperor  William  in  Damascus  had  declared  the 
number  to  be  300,000,000.  I  replied  that  the  emperor  only 
quoted  what  the  Moslem  sheikh  had  asserted  to  be  the  number. 
But  the  mudir  Icept  it,  and  months  after  it  was  published  in  the 
Independence  Beige  in  an  official  statement  of  the  Ottoman 
government  as  the  result  of  its  own  researches,  I  then  copied  it 
from  the  Belgian  journal  and  published  it  in  our  Neshrah.  The 
Mudir  Jelal  ud  Din  Beg,  however,  got  the  credit  of  it. 


■\ 


694  A  New  Century  Dawns 

A  review  of  the  year  1900  shows  that  the  press  printed  24,ooo,CXX) 
pages,  of  which  17,884,000  were  Arabic  Scriptures.  Fifty-eight 
thousand  copies  were  issued,  although,  owing  to  repair,  the 
presses  were  idle  for  two  months. 

During  the  year,  the  Russian  Schools  Committee  bought  4,026 
copies  of  the  Arabic  Bible  and  Testament  for  use  in  their  schools 
and  in  addition,  7,893  volumes  of  educational  and  scientific 
literature. 

The  local  press  censors  have  continued  to  remind  us  that  we 
are  under  their  paternal  scrutiny.  They  refuse  now  to  sanction 
any  map  of  the  Holy  Land  showing  the  divisions  made  by  Joshua 
among  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  as  the  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid  has 
not  authorized  such  a  division  in  the  past  nor  will  he  in  the 
future.  In  Mr.  Moody's  book,  "  To  the  Work,"  all  the  illustra- 
tions and  lessons  drawn  from  the  story  of  Gideon  and  his 
victorious  band  of  three  hundred  are  suppressed,  probably  from 
the  perilous  suggestiveness  of  the  possibility  that  such  an  event 
might  occur  again. 

The  Beirut  Girls'  Boarding-School  continued  to  prosper  and 
the  return  of  Miss  Barber  from  America  was  cause  for  special 
thanksgiving. 

The  college  students  numbered  512,  showing  a  steady  growth 
from  year  to  year. 


XXVII 

The  Whitening  Fields  (i  901— 1902) 

Shall  a  Missionary  Resign  at  70? 

MY  elder  brother,  Judge  Wm.  H.  Jessup,  reached  his 
seventy-first  birthday  on  January  29th,  and  I  wrote 
him  a  letter  of  congratulation,  "  It  is  a  great  matter 
and  a  good  one,  too,  to  have  Hved  during  the  last  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century  and  to  see  the  opening  of  the  twentieth.  We 
cannot  expect  to  journey  far  down  into  the  new  century  on  this 
little  globe,  but  we  shall  see  greater  things  than  these  in  that 
land  to  which  we  are  going.  Last  year  you  were  seventy  and 
next  year,  D.  V.  I  shall  be  seventy.  President  Dwight  of  Yale, 
your  classmate,  Dr.  Hunger,  and  President  Daniel  C.  Gilman,  old 
Yale  friends  of  mine,  resigned  at  seventy.  But  how  can  a  lawyer 
or  a  missionary  resign  at  seventy  ?  Can  a  sea-captain  resign 
when  two-thirds  across  the  Atlantic,  because  he  is  seventy  ? 
We  can  throw  off  certain  burdens  upon  younger  shoulders,  but 
to  give  up  all  work  is  out  of  the  question.  Our  missionary 
patriarch  at  Constantinople,  Dr.  Elias  Riggs,  is  now  ninety  and 
still  does  effective  literary  work.  Daniel  Bliss,  of  the  college,  is 
in  his  seventy-seventh  year  and  so  is  Mr.  Bird  of  Abeih.  Yet 
Dr.  Bliss  as  president  fulfills  his  college  duties  well  and  Mr. 
Bird  can  itinerate  in  Lebanon  and  preach  with  great  fervour  and 
power.  Last  Sunday  I  preached  in  Arabic  at  the  college  at  9 
a.  m.,  then  in  English  in  the  Anglo-American  Church  at  1 1 
A.  M.,  and  at  3  p.  m.  went  to  the  Sunday-school,  and  then  at- 
tended Christian  Endeavour  consecration  meeting  from  4 :  30  to 
6  p.  M.,  and  did  not  feel '  Mondayish '  the  next  day. 

"  Dr.  Cuyler  did  right  to  resign  that  large  pastorate  at  seventy 
and  be  thus  in  a  quiet  way  able  to  serve  the  Church  at  large. 

69s  / 


696  The  Whitening  Fields 

Yet  how  easy  it  is  to  say  what  other  people  ought  to  do,  and  how 
hard  for  us  to  stop  work  or  even  to  go  at  half  speed,  when  our 
heads  are  white,  our  step  begins  to  be  unsteady,  and  our  knees 
and  feet  refuse  to  obey  orders  from  headquarters  ! 

"  The  '  Hue  of  fire '  is  fast  working  down  to  1830,  the  year  of 
your  birth,  and  1832  of  mine;  the  men  who  stand  in  front  of  us 
are  growing  fewer  and  feebler  and  the  shafts  are  flying  thicker 
than  ever,  and  ere  long  our  old  neighbours  will  say  of  us,  '  See, 
they  are  now  in  the  front ;  their  turn  will  come  next !  ' 

"  But  why  should  we  not  work  on  ?  If  we  live  temperately,  eat 
moderately,  work  steadily,  sleep  soundly,  exercise  regularly,  never 
worry,  and  calmly  and  lovingly  trust  in  our  God  and  Saviour,  we 
ought  to  work  on  right  up  to  the  gates  of  glory," 

And  he  did.  The  following  January  16,  1902,  he  attended 
an  evening  religious  meeting,  returned  home,  and  retired,  and  be- 
fore sunrise  was  suddenly  summoned  by  his  Lord.  A  cablegram 
brought  me  the  news  while  the  mission  was  in  session  in  my 
study. 

The  week  before  he  had  delivered  before  the  Bar  Association 
of  Scranton,  composed  of  some  of  the  most  eminent  lawyers  and 
judges  of  Pennsylvania,  an  elaborate  address  on  the  relations  of 
capital  and  labour  and  the  legality  of  strikes,  which  was  pro- 
nounced to  be  one  of  the  best  presentments  of  the  legal  aspects  of 
the  question  ever  written.  It  was  published  and  widely  circu- 
lated. He  was  as  prominent  in  the  Church  as  in  the  law,  a 
zealous  and  successful  Bible  class  teacher,  a  lover  of  the  Church, 
the  Sunday-school,  and  the  family  altar.  By  his  death,  brother 
Samuel  and  I  alone  remain  of  the  five  brothers  in  our  family,  and 
yet  it  was  thought  that  an  early  grave  awaited  us  both  in  the  dis- 
tant land  of  Syria. 

February  1 3th  Mrs.  Jessup  and  I  were  returning  on  horseback 
from  Sidon  to  Beirut.  The  horses  were  of  the  kind  that  had 
"  seen  their  fast  days,"  and  although  the  sheikh  of  the  horses  in 
Sidon  had  assured  us  of  their  superior  qualities,  we  had  a 
laborious  time  in  reaching  the  river  Damur,  half-way  to  Beirut. 


A  Dangerous  Ford  697 

Muleteers  whom  we  met  assured  us  that  we  need  not  go  around 
by  the  bridge,  as  the  stream  was  low  and  easily  forded  above  its 
mouth  near  the  seashore.  I  rode  ahead  and  Mrs.  Jessup  followed. 
Suddenly,  when  near  the  middle  of  the  swift,  deep  current,  I 
heard  a  sound,  and  looking  around,  saw  Mrs.  Jessup's  horse  pros- 
trate in  water  and  she  lying  in  the  stream.  I  sprang  from  my 
horse  and  rushed  back  through  two  feet  of  water  and  slipping  on 
a  boulder,  fell  headlong  into  the  river ;  but  in  a  moment  I  was 
up,  and  seizing  her  hand,  helped  her  out  with  one  hand,  leading 
the  two  horses  with  the  other  until  we  reached  the  north  shore. 
There  we  found  a  little  room  nearly  empty,  and  proceeded  to  dry 
our  clothes  in  the  hot  sun,  sitting  barefoot  while  we  ate  our 
lunch.  As  our  warm  woollen  wraps  and  waterproofs  were  in  the 
saddle-bags,  we  made  a  partial  change,  and  rode  on  to  Beirut. 
Providentially,  instead  of  a  cold  north  wind,  we  had  a  dead  calm 
and  a  blazing  sun  which  prevented  our  taking  cold.  I  had 
travelled  over  that  road  for  forty  years  but  never  met  with  such 
an  accident  before. 

It  is  well  known  that  modern  Islam,  like  the  papacy,  believes 
the  traditions  to  be  of  equal  authority  with  the  sacred  volume. 
The  Moslem  traditions,  sayings  of  the  Prophet  and  his  doings, 
etc.,  are  embodied  in  several  ponderous  and  tedious  volumes,  full 
of  puerilities  and  impurities,  so  that  respectable  Moslems  are 
ashamed  of  them.  The  Shiah  Moslems  of  Persia  reject  the  tra- 
ditions. The  Sunnites,  on  the  contrary,  accept  them  and  swear 
by  them.  These  latter  are  the  Orthodox  sect,  but  of  late,  many 
of  their  leading  sheikhs  have  become  alarmed  at  the  use  made  of 
their  traditions  by  Christian  writers  and  are  demanding  an  ex- 
purgated edition  of  the  Hadeeth.  They  will  find  it  impossible  to 
agree  as  to  the  true  and  false  traditions.  In  all  the  ages  of 
Islam,  a  bitter  controversy  has  been  waged  as  to  which  passages 
of  the  Koran  are  abrogated,  and  which  are  not.  If  all  the  false 
traditions  are  weeded  out,  there  will  not  be  much  left.  The 
Arabs  tell  a  story  of  Dr.  Thomson,  that  soon  after  his  arrival  in 
Syria  he  tried  to  eat  a  ripe  prickly  pear  (the  luscious  fruit  of  the 


698  The  Whitening  Fields 

giant  cactus).  Finding  it  full  of  woody  seeds,  he  began  to  pick 
them  out  and  when  he  got  them  all  out,  there  was  nothing  left 
but  the  skin. 

And  yet  modern  Islam  is  moulded  by  the  Hadeeth  more  than  by 
the  Koran,  and  a  thousand  customs  and  superstitions,  passing  as 
sound  in  doctrine  by  the  Moslem  world,  rest  entirely  on  the 
Hadeeth,  just  as  the  unscriptural  papal  doctrines  of  Mariolatry, 
Immaculate  Conception,  Transubstantiation  and  Papal  Infalli- 
bility, etc.,  rest  entirely  on  Romish  tradition. 

In  March  another  Moslem  convert  appeared,  an  ingenuous 
young  man,  who  was  longing  to  breathe  the  air  of  religious 
Hberty.  We  wrote  to  Egypt  with  regard  to  him,  as  Egypt  is  a 
refuge  for  the  oppressed,  and  although  private  family  persecution 
is  the  same  everywhere,  there  is  no  religious  liberty  for  Moslem 
converts  in  Turkey,  while  in  Egypt,  the  government,  as  such, 
does  not  persecute. 

A  convert  of  another  type  appeared  in  April,  a  Benedictine 
monk  of  fine  education  and  musical  talents,  named  Jean.  He 
was  a  good  Semitic  scholar  and  a  remarkable  organist.  I  gave 
him  a  letter  to, Father  James  A.  O'Connor  of  New  York,  so  well 
known  as  a  Protestant  "  usher "  of  Romish  priests  into  the 
Protestant  fold,  asking  him  to  give  him  aid  in  securing  a  place  as 
organist  in  some  American  city.  Having  a  good  profession  as 
organist,  he  seemed  far  more  hopeful  than  the  ordinary  run  of 
ex-priests  who  ask  to  be  fed,  clothed,  and  sent  to  America  at  our 
expense,  a  request  which  we  invariably  decline. 

In  April,  1901,  we  were  visited  by  the  "  Riggs  Party"  of 
American  ministers  and  laymen,  among  whom  were  Professor 
Riggs,  Dr.  Merle  Smith,  Mr.  Ammidon,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Maltbie 
Babcock,  and  others.  Such  visits  are  the  oases  in  the  life  of  a 
Syrian  missionary  and  are  always  refreshing  and  inspiring.  This 
party  embraced  a  larger  number  than  usual  of  refined  and  conse- 
crated men  and  women  whom  it  was  a  privilege  to  meet.     Dr. 


Maltbie  Babcock  699 

Maltbie  Babcock  I  was  especially  anxious  to  meet.  His  father, 
Henry  Babcock,  then  of  Truxton,  New  York,  and  his  Uncle  John, 
were  schoolmates  of  mine  in  Montrose  in  1846,  and  I  afterwards 
visited  them  when  they  were  settled  in  business  in  Syracuse. 
Those  two  brothers  were  the  means  of  teaching  me  in  one  lesson 
how  to  swim.  We  were  out  in  a  flat-bottomed  boat,  fishing  on 
Jones'  Lake,  near  Montrose.  About  a  hundred  feet  from  the 
shore,  a  dead  tree  loomed  up  from  the  water  which  was  quite 
deep.  The  boys  asked  me  to  lay  hold  of  a  broken  limb  of  the 
tree  and  draw  up  the  boat  and  lash  it  to  the  trunk.  I  reached 
out  and  the  boat  began  to  move  away.  Down  I  went  into  the 
deep  water  and  the  boat,  under  the  impulse,  was  now  far  from 
me.  I  turned  about  in  the  water  and  swam  towards  the  boat 
without  an  effort,  although  I  had  frequently  before  that  time 
tried  in  vain  to  learn. 

When  Dr.  Maltbie  called  on  us  in  Beirut,  I  told  him  this  story 
and  of  his  father's  and  uncle's  fondness  for  music,  and  with  Mrs. 
Jessup  at  the  piano,  we  sang  familiar  hymns  and  songs  with  great 
comfort.  His  clear,  sweet  voice  reminded  me  of  his  lamented 
father. 

He  preached  in  the  college  chapel  Sunday,  April  21st.  In  the 
afternoon  was  a^full  meeting  of  the  Christian  Endeavour  Society. 
On  Friday  evening,  April  26th,  a  reception  was  given  to  the 
Riggs  party  and  other  travellers,  among  whom  was  Dr.  Newman 
Smyth  and  my  old  friend  of  1855,  Titus  B.  Meigs  of  New  York. 
After  several  addresses  had  been  made  Mr.  J.  Ailing  of  Rochester 
announced,  on  behalf  of  the  Riggs  party,  a  gift  of  ^1,500  for  a 
new  printing  machine  for  our  press,  and  ^200  for  the  Zahleh  and 
Sidon  stations. 

The  next  morning  we  all  went  down  to  the  port  and  accom- 
panied that  party  of  beloved  and  noble  friends  to  the  French 
steamship  Eqiiateur,  little  dreaming  that  we  should  see  the  loved 
face  of  Dr.  Babcock  no  more.  Not  long  after  came  the  startling 
news  of  his  death  in  the  Naples  Hospital,  and  we  mingled  our 
tears  with  the  tears  of  thousands  of  Christian  people  in  America, 
who  sympathized  in  a  common  sorrow  and  bereavement. 


yoo  The  Whitening  Fields 

Years  ago,  Dr.  Washburn  telegraphed  me  from  Cairo.  The 
envelope  came  addressed,  "  Jessup  American  Machinery,"  a  new 
way  of  spelling  missionary.  When  one  thinks  of  the  multiplicity 
of  duties  devolving  upon  a  missionary,  the  title  seems  not  inap- 
propriate. There  are  wheels  within  wheels  and  revolutions  with- 
out number,  and  the  wonder  is  that  with  translation,  editing, 
importing,  accounting,  preaching,  teaching,  itinerating,  visiting, 
the  machinery  does  not  give  out  and  the  men  die  prematurely. 
But  for  the  oil  of  grace  freely  supplied  to  the  running  gear,  no 
man  could  survive  it  long. 

One  of  the  most  epoch  making  books  of  the  last  decade  of 
progress  is  "  The  Emancipation  of  Woman,"  by  Judge  Kasim 
Beg  Amin,  counsellor  of  the  court  of  appeals  in  Cairo,  Egypt, 
and  a  second  work,  "  The  New  Woman."  This  brilliant  author 
and  judge  was  one  of  the  lights  of  the  New  Egypt,  and  a  broad- 
minded,  liberal  man,  but  died  suddenly  April,  1908,  aged  forty- 
two  years.  The  following  extracts  from  the  book  will  show  that 
the  Moslem  world  is  going  to  be  roused  from  its  slumber  of  ages 
by  its  own  sons. 

Sir  William  Muir  in  writing  to  me  under  date  of  May  15,  1901, 
quotes  from  a  letter  addressed  to  him  by  a  correspondent  as  fol- 
lows : 

'"  .  .  .  I  am  forwarding  an  Arabic  book  which  will  be  of 
interest  to  you.  It  is  causing  a  great  sensation  in  Moslem  cir- 
cles. Its  author,  Kasim  Beg  Amin,  of  Cairo,  is  a  well-known 
Moslem  counsellor  of  the  court  of  appeals.  In  1889  he  wrote  a 
book  called  "  Tahrir  al  Mir'at,"  advocating  the  emancipation  of 
the  women  of  Egypt,  their  education,  and  admission  into  the 
same  rights  and  privileges  as  European  women  enjoy.  It  raised 
a  perfect  storm  of  opposition,  the  Ulema  and  Fikaha,  the  big- 
oted and  ignorant  section  of  the  community,  being  especially 
bitter  in  their  attacks  on  the  book  and  its  author.  They  ac- 
cused him  of  being  an  unbeliever,  an  enemy  of  Islam,  and  guilty 
of  propagating  ideas  contrary  to  the  precepts  of  the  Koran.  In 
reply  to  these  denouncements  and  in  justification  of  his  views,  he 


The  New  Woman  yoi 

has  just  pubhshed  a  second  book,  called  '•  Al  Mir'at  el  Jadidah," 
or  "  The  New  Woman,"  In  the  preface  he  gives  the  sheikhs 
of  the  Azhar  such  a  proof  of  his  mettle  as  they  are  not  likely  to 
forget  soon,  every  word  he  writes  is  so  true :  and,  to  add  to  their 
consternation,  the  mufti  and  other  enlightened  leaders  of  Islam  in 
Cairo  are  inclined  to  support  these  revolutionary  views.' 

"  What  Kasim  Beg  advocates  is  the  training  of  the  coming 
generation  to  take  that  place  in  the  home  and  social  circle  which 
the  woman  in  Europe  occupies.     He  says  : 

"  If  this  is  accomplished,  and  the  woman  instead  of  being  the 
slave  of  the  man,  becomes  his  equal,  his  companion,  friend  and 
counsellor,  the  manager  of  his  house,  the  educator  and  trainer 
of  his  children,  Kasim  Beg  is  certain  that  the  movement  will  be 
one  of  the  greatest  events  that  has  happened  in  the  history  of 
Egypt, 

"  The  principal  obstacle  to  the  education  of  woman  is,  without 
doubt,  the  state  of  seclusion  in  which  she  is  condemned  to-day  to 
live.     While  this  custom  prevails  nothing  can  be  accomplished," 

The  author  of  these  books  shows  that  the  veil  and  separation 
of  men  and  women  are  not  creations  of  the  Koran,  but  have  been 
enjoined  because  they  have  been  thought  to  have  an  extraordi- 
nary influence  on  morality.  The  result  he  proves  to  be  entirely 
the  opposite,  and  he  proceeds  : 

"  Here,  too,  as  elsewhere,  the  charm  of  prohibiting  produces  a 
result  contrary  to  its  object. 

"  Humiliating  to  the  woman,  detrimental  to  her  health  and 
morals,  wounding  the  dignity  of  man  himself  in  the  sense  of  the 
reciprocal  distrust  which  attaches  to  them,  it  has  degraded  our 
customs,  and  condemns  our  primitive  precautions,  which  are  re- 
pulsive to  every  cultivated  mind, 

"  If  we  raise  woman  by  giving  her  education  and  liberty,  we 
may  be  able  to  change  the  whole  history  of  Egypt,  and  possibly 
of  all  the  East.  T/iis  is  a  question  of  life  and  deatJi  for  us,  and 
for  all  Mussulmans,  because  the  misfortune  of  the  East  is  not,  in 
my  opinion,  a  religious  problem  as  generally  understood.  That 
does  not  mean  to  say  that  our  religion  has  not  undergone  a  de- 


yoi  The  Whitening  Fields 

formation  which  requires  some  reforms.  But  if  our  rehgion  has 
been  degraded  it  is  because  our  character  has  been  lowered.  The 
great  subject — the  subject  of  subjects — is  in  connection  solely  or 
principally  with  the  education  of  woman. 

"  We  cannot  seriously  change  our  social  state  before  changing 
that  of  our  family.  Religious  and  moral  instruction,  which  are  so 
generally  extolled  and  praised  by  us  as  a  remedy  for  our  misfor- 
tune, would  not  produce  the  desired  effect.  It  is  not  sufficient 
alone  that  grain  should  be  good  in  order  to  germinate  ;  it  requires 
also  to  light  upon  favourable  soil.  But  this  favourable  soil  will 
be  always  lacking  as  long  as  woman  is  unable  to  prepare  the  fu- 
ture welfare  of  her  children,  A  common  saying  among  us  is : 
*  Woman  should  never  leave  her  home  till  borne  from  it  to  her 
grave.' 

"  The  changes  which  I  would  urge  upon  my  countrymen  are  : 

"  I.     Let  the  women  be  educated. 

"  2.  Accord  to  them  the  liberty  of  their  acts,  their  thoughts, 
and  their  sentiments. 

"  3.  Give  to  marriage  its  dignity  by  adopting,  as  its  base,  the 
reciprocal  inclination  of  both  parties,  which  is  impossible  if  they 
do  not  see  each  other  before  marriage. 

•'  4.  Make  regulations  in  regard  to  the  husband's  right  of  re- 
pudiation ;  give  the  same  right  to  the  wife.  Make  it  in  all  cases 
a  solemn  act  which  cannot  validly  take  place  except  before  a 
tribunal,  and  after  having  been  preceded  by  an  attempt  at  con- 
ciliation. 

"  5.     Prohibit  polygamy  by  law," 

In  one  passage  the  author  exclaims,  "  Why  is  it,  my  brethren 
of  Islam,  that  I  cannot  allow  my  own  brother  to  see  the  face  of 
my  wife?  Why  do  we  never  trust  one  another  or  trust  our 
women  ?  Is  it  because  we  are  inferior  to  the  Christian  nations 
of  Europe  and  America  whose  women  go  unveiled  and  are  trusted 
and  honoured  ?  Are  we  so  degraded  that  no  one  can  trust  an- 
other ? 

"  Why  do  we  boast  of  the  virtue  of  our  women  and  at  the 
same  time  claim  that  they  can  only  be  kept  so  by  the  force  of 


F.  B.  Meyer  at  Brummana  703 

watchmen,  the  strength  of  locks  and  bolts,  and  the  height  of  our 
walls  ?  Is  it  not  strange  that  not  a  man  among  us  trusts  his  wife 
no  matter  how  long  she  has  been  married  ?  Is  it  not  a  shamcj 
that  we  imagine  that  our  mothers,  daughters,  and  wives  do  not 
know  how  to  protect  their  own  honour?  Is  all  this  suspicion 
consistent  with  our  own  self-respect  ? 

"  Our  only  relief  is  in  family  training  and  the  moral  and  intel- 
lectual education  of  our  girls." 

In  speaking  of  polygamy,  he  is  very  eloquent  and  severe.  He! 
says,  "  Polygamy  produces  jealousy,  hatred,  intrigue,  crimes  in-1 
numerable,  and  great  suffering.  My  critics  claim  that  women  inf 
the  hareems  are  happy.  How  do  they  know  ?  Have  they  any! 
statistics  of  hareem  life  ?  " 

On  August  12,  1901,  the  second  conference  of  Christian  work- 
ers in  the  Turkish  Empire  was  conducted  in  Brummana,  Mount 
Lebanon,  by  Rev.  F,  B.  Meyer  of  London.  Mr.  Meyer's  pres- 
ence was  inspiring.  He  spoke  twice  a  day  for  seven  days,  and 
missionaries  from  all  parts  of  the  empire  occupied  the  rest  of  the 
time.  It  was  a  season  of  heart-searching,  of  uplifting,  and  new 
self-dedication  to  Christ.  I  took  full  notes  of  his  addresses  and 
translated  them  all  into  Arabic  for  our  weekly  Neshrah. 

A  part  of  our  company  had  been  travelling  before  the  confer- 
ence along  the  upper  backbone  range  of  Lebanon  and  ascended 
to  the  summit  of  Jebel  Suiinin,  8,600  feet  above  the  sea.  On 
that  day,  we  at  Aleih  and  Brummana  were  enveloped  in  thick 
clouds  and  fog.  On  their  arrival  we  asked  them  how  they  suc- 
ceeded in  climbing  the  heights  of  Suiinin  on  that  cloudy  day. 
They  replied,  "  Clouds  ?  We  had  no  clouds.  We  were  above 
the  clouds  and  saw  the  fleecy  masses  far  below  us.  We  were  in 
a  cloudless  sky.  We  could  see  the  Cedar  Mountains  on  the 
north,  Hermon  on  the  south,  and  all  the  high  ranges.  Only 
you,  who  were  lower  down,  were  in  clouds  and  darkness." 

So  at  Brummana  we  felt  that  for  a  season  we  were  above  the 
clouds,  high  up  in  the  clear  sunshine  of  the  Saviour's  presence. 
The  Lord  bless  Frederick  B.  Meyer ! 


^04  The  Whitening  Fields 

His  visit  will  never  be  forgotten.  His  teachings  will  be  re- 
echoed along  the  Bosphorus  and  the  Black  Sea,  the  Orontes,  the 
Jordan,  and  the  Nile.  He  has  left  seed  thoughts  which  will 
germinate  and  bring  forth  blessed  fruit  on  the  plains  of  Galatia 
and  Cilicia,  of  Syria  and  Palestine,  and  in  the  fertile  soil  of 
Egypt. 

Among  the  features  of  this  conference  was  a  question  box,  in 
which  about  one  hundred  answered  the  question,  "  What  is  the 
ideal  missionary  ?  " 

In  more  than  one  instance  sanctified  common  sense  was  held 
up  as  the  threefold  essential.  One,  whose  ideal,  like  George  Fox 
in  his  leather  suit,  preferred  the  plain  and  practical,  wrote  briefly, 
"(i)  A  warm  heart.  (2)  A  hardhead.  (3)  A  thick  skin." 
With  another,  it  was  the  case  of"  right  relationship  (l)  with  God, 
as  loyal  ambassadors ;  (2)  with  others,  by  the  exercise  of  tact  and 
common  sense  ;  (3)  with  oneself,  by  observing  in  all  physical  and 
intellectual  matters  a  due  proportion  between  work  and  relax- 
ation, so  as  neither  to  burn  out  nor  rust  out." 

Other  fundamental  requisites  were  an  adequate  knowledge 
of  the  language ;  knowledge  of  the  problems  of  his  field  ;  a 
trained  and  experienced  mind  ;  one  who  cultivates  his  mind  to 
the  best  of  his  power  ;  mighty  in  the  Scriptures,  fully  acquainted 
with  the  Word  of  God  ;  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  Bible, 
history,  human  nature,  and  especially  his  own  self;  giving  con- 
stant thought  to  whatever  things  are  true,  honest,  just,  pure, 
lovely,  and  of  good  report ;  having  an  experimental  knowledge 
of  the  Scriptures  and  of  the  way  of  salvation  ;  sure  of  the  ultimate 
triumph  of  the  Gospel.  He  knows  how  to  set  other  people  to 
work. 

1.  Surrender  of  the  will;  desiring  not  to  be  ministered  unto 
but  to  minister,  emptied  of  self;  a  man  with  a  single  purpose,  to 
glorify  God  ;  unadvertised  self-denial. 

2.  Filled  with  the  spirit,  and  much  in  prayer  and  in  interces- 
sion on  behalf  of  others  ;  in  constant  communion  with  the  Lord. 

A  sent  one,  ever  about  his  Father's  business  ;  a  witness  to  what 
the  Holy  Spirit  has  shown  him  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ;  a  strong  be- 


A  Missionary's  Requisites  705 

lief  that  God  will  have  all  men  to  be  saved  ;  such  a  belief  in  the 
possibilities  of  human  nature  that  he  will  never  be  discouraged  ; 
ever  striving  to  find  the  angel  in  the  rough  block  of  marble ; 
looking  always  on  the  bright  side  of  people,  events,  and  circum- 
stances ;  with  God's  love  shed  abroad  in  the  heart  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  till  His  love  streams  over  all  barriers  and  covers  all  for 
whom  Christ  died ;  a  love  to  Christ  so  deep  in  the  heart  that  it 
will  make  him  tender,  patient,  forgiving,  and  winning  to  all; 
copying  the  Master  in  every  way,  Christlike. 

Among  other  not  to  be  despised  requirements  were — humour, 
good  humour,  such  a  sense  of  humour  as  will  save  him  and  his 
efforts  from  getting  into  ridiculous  situations  ;  the  power  of  living 
at  peace  with  all  men  without  sacrificing  right  principles.  Over 
and  over  again  reference  was  made  to  tact,  courtesy,  common 
sense,  "  plenty  of  common  sense,"  "  good  common  sense,"  "  sanc- 
tified common  sense,"  "  consecrated  common  sense." 

Sympathy  in  like  manner  was  frequently  insisted  on,  and 
specialized  as  broad,  loving,  whole-hearted,  unaffected  ;  a  sym- 
pathy that  wins  the  love  and  confidence  of  those  among  whom 
one  works. 

Again,  the  missionary  keeps  near  his  fellow  missionaries  and 
works  harmoniously  with  them.  The  same  spirit  enables  him  to 
understand  the  people,  sympathize  with  them,  and  to  live  Christ 
among  them.  Further,  he  should  be  a  man  of  magnetic  charm ; 
of  enthusiasm  ;  interested  in  every  person  he  meets,  he  should  have 
an  open  mind  and  be  able  to  deal  with  new  developments.  He 
is  "  made  all  things  to  all  men  that  he  may  win  some  " ;  and  yet 
— he  is  able  to  stand  alone  leaning  on  God's  arm.  He  has  a  cor- 
rect sense  of  proportion,  enabling  him  to  see  first  things  that  are 
first,  and  to  choose  always  what  gives  glory  to  Christ.  He  lives 
up  to  what  he  preaches.  The  life  of  the  ideal  missionary  like  a 
planetary  orbit  is  thus  constantly  under  the  influence  of  its  two 
foci — consecration  to  God  and  service  to  man. 

In  reply  to  an  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  Bi-Centennial  of 
Yale,  I  wrote  to  the  president  and  fellows  of  Yale  University ; 


7o6  The  Whitening  Fields 

Dear  Sirs  : 

I  am  in  receipt  of  your  invitation  to  me  to  be  present  at  the  cele- 
bration of  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  Yale  Col- 
lege, on  October  20th. 

I  should  esteem  it  an  honour  and  a  privilege  to  be  present,  did  not 
duty  to  my  work  in  Syria  prevent  my  being  absent  at  that  time. 

I  congratulate  you  all  on  this  auspicious  day,  and  as  a  loyal  son  of 
Yale,  permit  me  to  say  that  we  missionary  sons  of  alma  mater  look  to 
her  to  train  the  missionaries  of  the  future.  A  noble  band  have  gone 
forth  from  Yale  to  plant  Christian  institutions  in  distant  lands. 

On  my  arrival  here  in  February,  1856,  one  of  the  first  men  to  greet 
me  was  Eli  Smith,  a  Yale  graduate  of  1821.  He  was  then  engaged  in 
that  monumental  work,  the  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  Arabic  lan- 
guage, which  Dr.  Cornelius  Van  Dyck  took  up  on  Dr.  Smith's  death, 
January  11,  1857, — a  work  which  has  forever  connected  the  name  of 
Yale  with  the  spiritual  enlightenment  of  tens  of  millions  of  our  race. 

Dr.  Eli  Smith's  son  is  now  an  honoured  professor  in  Yale. 

The  sons  of  Yale  are  scattered  over  the  earth,  but  more  of  them  are 
needed.  The  missionary  work  to-day  calls,  as  never  before,  for  men 
thoroughly  equipped,  highly  educated,  broad-minded,  level-headed.  Is 
Yale  doing  her  whole  duty  in  this  great  mission  of  American  Christianity  ? 
Yale  was  founded  to  train  men  for  the  Church  and  the  world  and  not 
merely  for  the  "American  Nation." 

Would  it  not  be  well  to  put  on  record  at  this  great  anniversary  what 
Yale  has  done  in  planting  Christianity  and  a  Christian  civilization  in 
Asia,  Africa,  and  Polynesia  ?  Is  Yale  keeping  pace  with  the  great  work 
entrusted  by  our  divine  Master  to  Christian  America  ?  Is  she  sending 
more  men  into  the  world's  harvest  field  now  that  she  has  2,500  students, 
than  when  she  had  only  600  ? 

May  the  Yale  of  the  new  century  be  preeminent  for  liberal  learning, 
sanctified  science,  and  self-denying  consecration  to  the  highest  spiritual 
welfare  of  the  whole  brotherhood  of  man  ! 

Invoking  the  divine  blessing  upon  you,  Mr.  President,  son  of  my  old 

professor,  upon  you,  the  fellows,  among   whom  is  a  beloved  classmate, 

and  upon   all  the  alumni  and  students  of  Yale  who  may  be  so  fortunate 

as  to  be  present  at  this  two  hundredth  anniversary,  I  am  ever, 

Yours  loyally  and  lovingly, 

Henry  Harris  Jessup, 

Of  the  Class  0/ i8ji. 


A  Hold-Up  707 

My  brother  Samuel  recently  had  an  unusual  experience  when 
travelling  in  the  mountains  west  of  Mount  Hermon.  In  riding 
through  a  lonely  valley,  he  met  several  Moslem  horsemen.  One 
of  them,  an  aged  man,  dismounted  and  stepping  forward  seized 
the  bridle  of  my  brother's  horse,  exclaiming,  "  I  shall  not  let  go 
this  bridle  until  you  give  me  what  I  ask."  My.  brother  said, 
*•  What  do  you  ask  ?  "  He  replied,  "  Years  ago  you  sent  a  teacher 
to  my  village,  Belott,  and  my  son  Khahl  attended  the  school.  It 
made  a  new  boy  of  him.  He  became  a  Christian,  and  now  I  want 
you  to  send  another  teacher  to  instruct  and  train  my  younger 
sons.  I  am  a  Moslem,  but  I  want  them  to  be  Christians  like 
their  brother  Khalil.  Now  do  not  refuse  me.  If  you  do,  I  shall 
hold  you  responsible.  Ere  long  we  shall  both  stand  before  the 
judgment  bar  of  God.  If  you  do  not  give  us  a  teacher  and  my 
boys  grow  up  ignorant,  God  will  say  to  me,  '  Why  did  you  neg- 
lect these  sons  ?  '  And  I  will  reply,  '  I  wanted  them  taught  the 
right  way,  but  this  man.  Dr.  Jessup,  would  not  send  us  a  teacher. 
He  is  responsible.'  "  My  brother  explained  the  extreme  difficulty 
of  getting  the  means  to  carry  on  so  many  schools,  but  said 
he  would  see  what  could  be  done.  Then  said  the  sheikh,  "  We 
will  gladly  pay  a  part,  only  tell  us  what  we  should  pay." 

My  brother  writes  that  he  was  never  addressed  in  that  way 
before  by  a  Moslem.  Truly  the  Lord  is  opening  the  way  to  the 
hearts  of  the  people. 

When  the  college  was  founded,  its  board  of  trustees  and  local  1 
board  of  managers,  or  executive  committee,  adopted  a  declaration    i 
of  religious  belief,  being  the  brief  creed  of  the  Evangelical  Alli- 
ance.    This    embraced    "  the   divine   inspiration,  authority,  and 
sufficiency  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  :  the  right  and  duty  of  private 
judgment  in  the  interpretation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures :  the  unity     \ 
of  the  Godhead  and  the  Trinity  of  the  Persons  therein :  the  utter 
depravity  of  human  nature  in  consequence  of  the  fall :  the  incar- 
nation of  the  Son  of  God,  His  work  of  atonement  for  the  sins  of 
mankind,  and  His  mediatorial  intercession  and  reign :  the  justifi- 
cation of  the  sinner  by  faith  alone :  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit 


7o8  The  Whitening  Fields     . 

in  the  conversion  and  sanctification  of  the  sinner:  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  the  judgment  of  the 
world  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with  the  blessedness  of  the 
righteous,  and  the  eternal  punishment  of  the  wicked :  the  divine 
institution  of  the  Christian  ministry  and  the  obhgation  and  perpe- 
tuity of  the  ordinances  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  and 
the  sacredness  of  the  Lord's  day  which  is  to  be  duly  honoured : 
the  whole  body  of  evangelical  doctrine  as  contained  in  the 
inspired  Word  of  God,  and  represented  in  the  consensus  of 
Protestant  creeds,  as  opposed  to  the  erroneous  teachings  of  the 
Romish  and  Eastern  Churches.  We  also  declare  our  hearty 
sympathy  with,  and  pledge  our  active  cooperation  in  advancing, 
the  chief  aim  of  this  institution,  which  as  a  missionary  agency  is 
to  train  up  young  men  in  the  knowledge  of  Christian  truth,  and 
if  possible  secure  their  intelligent  and  hearty  acceptance  of  the 
Bible  as  the  Word  of  God  and  of  Christ  as  the  only  Saviour,  and 
at  the  same  time  inspire  them  with  high  moral  purposes  and 
consecrated  aims  in  life. 

"  We  further  pledge  ourselves  to  the  inculcation  of  sound  and 
reverent  views  of  the  relation  of  God  to  the  natural  universe,  as 
its  Creator  and  Supreme  Ruler,  and  to  give  instruction  in  the 
special  department  assigned  to  us,  in  the  spirit  and  method  best 
calculated  to  conserve  the  teachings  of  revealed  truth  and  demon- 
strate the  essential  harmony  between  the  Bible  and  all  true  sci- 
ence and  philosophy. 

"  In  view  of  the  responsibility  of  the  instruction  of  the  young, 
and  the  influence  of  personal  example,  we  recognize  the  im- 
portance of  unusual  care  in  maintaining  a  high  standard  of  Chris- 
tian consistency  in  life  and  conduct  with  reference  to  all  the 
moral  questions  of  the  day." 

This  continued  in  force  for  years,  until  it  was  gradually  disused 
and  new  professors  and  tutors  came  out  to  the  college  who  had 
never  been  required  to  assent  to  it.  On  the  election  of  a  new 
president  in  1902,  the  board  of  trustees  in  New  York,  probably 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  a  number  of  the  faculty  had  never  been 
asked  to  sign  the  declaration,  decided  to  set  it  aside  entirely  as 


Arthur  J.  Brown 


709 


no  longer  needed,  and  it  was  decided  to  require  it  no  longer  as  a 
condition  of  appointment  to  the  college  faculty.  As  long  as  the 
trustees,  who  appoint  the  faculty  and  staff,  continue  to  be  ortho- 
dox Christian  men,  who  use  the  most  scrupulous  care  in  the  se- 
lection of  candidates,  there  will  be  no  danger  "  to  the  soundness 
and  high  character  of  the  staff  of  instruction,"  but  the  abolition 
of  the  declaration  has  never  commended  itself  to  the  missionaries 
of  Syria,  Palestine,  and  Egypt. 

The  board  of  managers,  finding  their  services  no  longer  needed 
by  reason  of  the  number,  high  character,  and  experience  of  the 
faculty,  who  were  able  to  decide  all  questions  of  importance  in 
correspondence  with  the  trustees,  decided  to  disband  July  9,  1902, 
and  the  whole  responsibility,  which  had  been  nominally  dis- 
tributed over  a  body  of  some  twenty  missionaries,  was  now 
thrown  upon  the  trustees  and  faculty.  The  missionaries  con- 
tinue in  warm  support  and  cooperation  with  the  college,  preach 
in  its  pulpit  and  conform  the  system  of  training  in  their  high 
schools  to  the  requisitions  of  the  college. 

On  March  21,  1902,  Rev.  A.  J.  Brown,  D.  D.,  and  Mrs.  Brown, 
after  two  days  in  the  Beirut  quarantine,  reached  our  house  in 
good  health  and  spirits-,  evidently  none  the  worse  for  their  long 
journey,  visiting  the  missions  in  Japan,  China,  Korea,  Philippines, 
Siam,  India,  and  Egypt.  A  more  indefatigable  worker  we  have  not 
seen.  During  the  thirty- six  days  of  his  stay  in  Syria,  he  visited 
all  our  mission  stations  besides  Damascus  and  Jerusalem,  attended 
a  full  week's  mission  meeting  with  three  sessions  a  day,  discussing 
questions  of  vital  importance,  asking  questions  and  taking  copious 
notes,  attending  receptions,  making  addresses  in  the  college,  the 
church,  and  the  various  meetings,  and  at  the  same  time  burning 
midnight  oil  in  writing  up  his  official  reports  on  the  Philippines. 
Siam,  and  India.  He  attended  the  memorial  service  for  Miss 
Eliza  D.  Everett,  who  died  in  February,  and  was  present  April 
19th  at  the  seventieth  birthday  picnic  of  the  writer,  when  a  special 
car  on  the  little  steam  tramway  took  our  whole  American  com- 
munity to  the  Dog  River,  where  we  inspected  the  ancient  tablets 


7 10  The  Whitening  Fields 

of  Esarhaddon,  Rameses,  and  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  had  our  basket 
lunch  in  the  riverside  khan. 

His  visit  to  Syria  was  not  only  instructive  to  us,  by  reason  of 
his  wide  observation  of  mission  work  in  eastern  and  southern 
Asia,  but  his  religious  character,  strong  faith,  and  intelligent  en- 
thusiasm were  inspiring  to  us  all.  We  all  felt  that  his  presence  in 
our  homes  was  a  blessing  to  us  and  to  our  children  and  our  chil- 
dren's children.  In  Dr.  Brown  there  was  no  tinge  of  official 
authority.  He  was  one  of  us  and  the  "  Secretary  "  was  lost  in 
the  man. 

On  Saturday,  April  25th,  he  sailed  for  America,  accompanied 
by  Mrs.  Brown,  Dr.  Samuel  Jessup,  and  his  daughter  Fanny,  my 
daughter  Anna,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Doolittle  and  two  children,  and 
Miss  Gertrude  Moore.  He  occupied  the  time  of  the  voyage 
writing  notes  of  his  Syrian  visit  and  the  various  questions  of 
policy  agreed  upon  at  our  meetings,  reached  America  in  time  for 
the  General  Assembly,  and  during  the  summer  was  prostrated 
by  a  long  illness  resultant  from  the  overtaxing  of  his  physical 
strength. 

Just  before  his  visit  there  was  a  religious  awakening  in  the 
girls'  boarding-school  and  thirteen  young  women  declared  their 
acceptance  of  Christ  as  their  Saviour.  There  was  also  unusual 
interest  in  the  college  and  in  the  Suk  Boarding-School.  In 
Adana,  Asia  Minor,  there  was  a  Pentecostal  work  of  the  Spirit. 
The  two  Protestant  churches  were  crowded  every  night  and  some 
of  the  worst  characters  in  the  city  were  converted.  The  annual 
report  of  the  mission  for  1 901  shows  an  addition  to  the  churches 
on  profession  of  faith  of  1 5 1 ,  a  record  year. 

In  January  the  trustees  in  New  York  of  the  St.  Paul's  Insti- 
tute in  Tarsus,  founded  by  the  late  Col.  Elliot  F.  Shepard, 
requested  our  mission  to  take  over  the  institute  as  a  part  of  the 
Presbyterian  Mission  in  Syria.  After  careful  consideration,  we 
declined  the  offer  and  recommended  that  it  be  transferred  to  the 
American  Board  of  Missions  in  Boston:  ist,  because  it  is  within 


DR.   DANIEL  BLISS   IN   1905,  AGED  S2 


The  Reaper  at  Work  711 

the  limits  of  their  mission  field ;  2d,  the  language  of  the  pupils 
and  of  the  school  is  Turkish  and  not  Arabic ;  3d,  it  is  too  far 
from  Syria  to  insure  proper  supervision ;  4th,  we  have  enough 
high  hterary  institutions  already  under  our  care;  5th,  it  would 
not  be  true  missionary  comity  for  us  to  invade  the  field  of  another 
society;  6th,  although  Colonel  Shepard,  who  founded  and  endowed 
the  institute,  was  a  Presbyterian,  he  was  a  broad-minded  man,  and 
the  transfer  to  the  American  Board  would  be  only  an  illustration 
and  fulfillment  of  his  own  Christian  liberality. 

Our  recommendation  was  adopted  and  that  interesting  school 
is  now  under  the  wise  supervision  of  the  Central  Turkey  Mission 
and  presidency  of  Rev.  Dr.  Christie. 

The  election  of  Rev.  Howard  S.  Bliss  to  succeed  his  father, 
Dr.  Daniel  Bliss,  by  the  New  York  trustees,  on  nomination  of 
the  Syrian  resident  board  of  managers  at  their  meeting  January 
13th,  met  with  general  approbation.  He  arrived  in  Beirut  with 
his  family  November  nth,  and  entered  at  once  upon  his  duties. 

During  this  year  several  persons  well  known  in  Syria  Mission 
circles  passed  away. 

In  February  Miss  Eliza  D.  Everett,  for  twenty-five  years  prin- 
cipal of  the  Beirut  Girls'  Seminary,  died  in  Chicago.  March  1 3th, 
Miss  Meleta  Carabet,  one  of  Mrs.  Whiting's  pupils  and  daughter 
of  Bishop  Carabet,  one  of  the  earliest  Protestant  converts  in  Syria, 
entered  into  rest.  For  many  years  she  taught  in  various  schools 
and  then  served  for  fifteen  years  in  the  British  post-office. 

November  27th  my  infant  granddaughter,  Martha  Day,  died 
in  Beirut,  and  about  the  same  time  my  old  teacher  and  pupil, 
Rev.  Elias  Saadeh,  pastor  of  the  Syrian  Evangelical  Church  in 
New  York,  died  in  Brooklyn,  aged  about  sixty. 

During  the  special  meeting  of  the  Syria  Mission,  April  i8th 
to  25th,  to  confer  with  Dr.  Brown,  the  Rev.  Wm.  Bird,  the  vet- 
eran missionary  of  Abeih,  Mount  Lebanon,  was  a  guest  at  our 
house,  but  so  prostrated  by  a  mortal  malady  that  he  was  only 


712  The  Whitening  Fields 

able  to  attend  a  few  of  the  sessions.  Mrs.  Bird  and  Miss  Emily 
Bird  were  with  him,  and  when  I  was  obhged,  May  15th,  to  re- 
move to  Aleih  in  Mount  Lebanon,  to  teach  in  the  Suk  theo- 
logical class,  they  all  remained  in  our  house  until  his  decease 
August  30th.  He  had  the  best  of  medical  attention  from 
Dr.  Geo.  Post,  his  physician,  and  of  faithful  nursing,  but  nothing 
could  arrest  the  fatal  disease. 

He  died  August  30,  1902,  aged  seventy-nine  years  and  thirteen 
days,  having  been  born  August  17,  1823,  the  same  day  and  the 
same  year  with  Dr.  Daniel  Bliss,  who  survives  him.  His  sick- 
room was  a  Bethel  and  none  visited  him  without  receiving  a 
benediction  and  a  heavenward  impulse. 

On  August  30th  I  wrote  to  Dr.  A.  J.  Brown  as  follows : 

"  This  morning  at  12  :  30  the  Nestor  and  patriarch  of  our  mis- 
sion. Rev.  William  Bird,  entered  into  rest.  He  has  hardly  left 
the  room  in  my  house  in  which  you  bade  him  farewell  April  26th. 
The  long  struggle  with  disease,  aggravated  by  the  infirmities  of 
age,  is  at  an  end.  He  has  gained  the  victory  and  now  wears  the 
victor's  crown. 

"  This  morning  at  sunrise,  we  in  Aleih  looked  through  the 
telescope  at  a  certain  window  in  my  house  in  Beirut  for  a  pre- 
arranged signal.  For  three  months  we  had  looked  daily  for  that 
signal  seven  miles  away,  but  this  morning  the  black  cloth  hung 
from  the  window,  and  we  knew  that  Mr.  Bird  had  fallen  asleep. 
We  at  once  sent  word  to  the  families  in  Aleih  and  Suk  el  Gharb, 
and  Mrs.  Jessup,  Dr.  Frederick  J.  Bliss,  our  guest,  and  I  drove 
down  to  Beirut.  Mr.  Hardin  had  already  been  two  days  in 
Beirut,  and  was  with  Mrs.  Bird  and  Miss  Emily  Bird  when  the 
end  came. 

"  He  fell  asleep  as  gently  as  an  infant,  without  a  struggle,  a  fit 
ending  of  a  beautiful  life. 

"  The  funeral  services  were  held  at  the  house  and  church  at 
3 :  30  and  4  o'clock  p.  m.,  and  were  conducted  by  Rev.  Dr.  Geo. 
E.  Post  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College,  Rev.  Dr.  Mackie  of  the 
Churcl^   of  Scotland   Mission,  Rev.  O.  J.  Hardin,  Rev.  F.  W- 


"They  Do  Rest  in  Their  Graves"  713 

March,  Rev.  Asaad  Abdullah,  Syrian  pastor,  and  Rev.  Dr.  H.  H. 
Jessup. 

"  He  was  buried  in  the  old  mission  cemetery  below  the  press, 
where  lie  buried  Pliny  Fisk,  Whiting,  Eli  Smith,  William  Cal- 
houn, Wood,  Danforth,  Dale,  Van  Dyck,  and  Eddy,  and  many 
Christian  women  and  little  children.  Not  far  from  his  grave  are 
the  graves  of  his  two  infant  brothers  who  died  in  1825  and  1826. 

"  Rev.  Wm.  Bird  was  born  in  Malta,  August  17,  1823,  when  his 
parents,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Isaac  Bird,  were  on  their  way  to  Syria. 
They  reached  Syria  November  16,  1823.  On  May  2,  1828,  as  war 
was  imminent  between  England  and  Turkey,  all  the  missionaries 
left  Syria  for  Malta.  The  following  year  the  missionaries  laboured 
there  in  connection  with  the  Arabic  Press,  which  was  started 
there  in  1822,  and  Mr.  Isaac  Bird  explored  the  Barbary  States  in 
Africa. 

"  May  I,  1830,  the  missionaries  returned  to  Beirut,  and  were  met 
at  the  ship's  side  by  the  entire  Protestant  community  of  the 
Turkish  Empire,  i.  e.,  six  persons  (now  there  are  nearly  90,000). 

"  In  1836  Rev.  I.  Bird  returned  to  America  on  account  of  the 
health  of  his  family,  arriving  October  15th. 

"  William  studied  with  his  father  and  graduated  at  Dartmouth  [ 
College.     He  also  taught  in  his  father's  high  school  in  Hartford,  I 
Conn.,  and  taught  arithmetic  to  a  lad  named  J.  Pierpont  Morgan, 
whose  attainments  in  addition  and  multiplication  are  just  now 
astonishing  the  world. 

"On  June  19,  1853,  Rev.  Wm.  Bird  and  his  wife,  Sarah  F. 
Bird,  arrived  in  Beirut.  He  went  at  once  to  Mount  Lebanon, 
and  has  been  stationed  in  two  places,  Abeih  and  Deir  el  Komr. 
For  forty-nine  years  he  has  been  an  itinerant  missionary,  riding 
over  the  heights  and  ravines  of  Lebanon  and  over  the  plain  of  the 
Bookaa  between  Mount  Hermon  and  Baalbec.  At  times  he  has 
had  as  many  as  fifty-eight  schools  under  his  superintendence,  all 
Bible  schools,  where  boys  and  girls  were  taught  the  Bible  and  the 
rudiments  of  a  simple  education,  and  in  the  high  schools  were 
carried  on  the  higher  branches  of  study.  He  was  most  faithful 
and  exact  in  examining  the  children.     He  loved  them  and  was  be- 


714  The  Whitening  Fields 

loved  by  them  and  thousands  to-day  remember  Mr.  Bird  as  their 
childhood's  friend. 

"As  a  preacher  he  was  eminently  evangelical  and  earnest,  speak- 
ing from  the  heart  and  to  the  heart,  and  his  fluency  in  Arabic 
brought  him  very  close  to  the  people  in  their  houses,  in  private 
conversation  as  well  as  in  village  preaching. 

"At  the  same  time,  he  had  decidedly  scientific  tastes,  and  made 
a  unique  collection  of  the  fossil  shells  of  the  Lebanon  cretaceous 
limestone  and  the  Jura  deposit  of  Mejdel  Shems  south  of  Mount 
Hermon.  As  he  rode  over  the  desolate  gorges  of  Lebanon,  the 
monotony  of  the  ride  was  relieved  by  an  eye  eager  to  observe  the 
geological  strata  and  the  wonderful  paleontological  remains.  His 
collection  of  fossils  is  now  in  the  museum  of  the  Syrian  Protestant 
College  in  Beirut,  and  scientific  men  of  Europe  and  America  have 
attached  his  name  to  rare  fossils  of  his  discovery. 

"One  day  during  his  illness  he  said,  '  Should  it  please  the  Lord 
to  raise  me  up  from  this  sick  bed,  how  I  would  preach  !  I  would 
beseech  men  to  come  to  Christ  and  it  seems  to  me  that  I  could 
preach  with  a  power  that  I  never  knew  before.'  I  said  to  him, 
'  My  dear  brother,  you  have  always  preached  with  your  whole 
heart  and  oftentimes  with  tears.  How  could  you  preach  with 
more  unction  and  earnestness  than  before  ? '  'I  know  it,'  said 
he, '  but  I  have  had  such  a  vision  of  Christ  and  of  men's  need  of 
a  Saviour  that  I  am  sure  I  could  preach  with  power! 

"  But  it  was  not  the  Lord's  will  that  he  should  speak  again  from 
the  pulpit.  '  He  being  dead,  yet  speaketh.'  His  life  has  been 
one  of  seed  sowing,  and  holding  forth  salvation  in  Christ. 

"  Mr.  Wm.  Bird  was  constantly  thrown  into  contact  with  the  old 
traditional  sects  of  Syria  and  was  mighty  in  the  Scriptures  and  in 
full  sympathy  with  his  father's  abhorrence  of  papal  superstitions. 
He  has  led  many  to  the  light  and  now  has  gone  to  see  the  Great 
Prophet,  Priest  and  King  in  His  beauty.  We  shall  not  soon  see 
his  like  again." 

The  grief  of  the  people  of  Southern  Lebanon  knew  no  bounds. 
When  the  funeral  memorial  service  was  held  in  his  old  home  in 


Our  Mr.  Bird  715 

Abeih,  it  was  the  day  of  the  annual  "  Feast  of  the  Cross,"  a  kind 
of  Fourth  of  July  celebration  with  fireworks,  firing  of  guns,  and 
ringing  of  bells  But  the  Maronite  priest  gave  orders,  "  Let  not 
a  bell  be  rung,  not  a  fire  be  kindled,  nor  a  gun  fired  this  day* 
Our  Mr.  Bird  has  died." 

The  writer  preached  a  memorial  sermon  in  Beirut,  Abeih,  and 
Deir  el  Komr  and  everywhere  the  people  felt  that  a  prince  had 
died  in  Israel.  The  Druse  begs  of  Abeih,  after  the  service, 
formally  requested  that  Mrs.  Bird  and  Miss  Emily  might  remain 
among  them  to  bless  them  by  their  teaching  and  example. 

In  April,  a  Greek  monk,  Athanasius,  called  to  see  me.  He 
said  he  had  been  secretary  to  the  Greek  Patriarch  Melatius  in 
Damascus,  and  that  he  had  met  my  brother  Samuel  in  Sidon. 
His  father  in  Nazareth  begged  him  to  abjure  monasticism  and 
come  home  but  he  declined.  He  stated  that  twelve  other  Greek 
monks  were  ready  to  doff  their  cowls  and  robes  and  become 
Protestants,  of  whom  three  were  in  Beirut.  He  then  left  me, 
ostensibly  to  go  to  Tripoli  and  join  the  other  nine.  The  next  I 
heard  was  in  a  letter  from  him  and  his  three  conferres  in 
Marseilles  in  which  he  told  the  extraordinary  story  that  the  agent 
of  the  Greek  patriarch  seized  him  here  in  the  street  and  induced 
the  Turkish  police  to  banish  him  and  his  three  companions  to 
Marseilles,  and  that  they  were  all  penniless  and  starving,  and  un- 
less I  sent  them  at  once  money  for  their  return  to  Beirut,  the 
three  would  commit  suicide  and  the  sin  rest  on  me  !  Now,  as 
the  Greek  patriarch  cannot  exile  men,  and  their'passage  to  Mar- 
seilles would  be  four  Napoleons  (^16)  each,  which  the' patriarch 
would  not  be  Hkely  to  pay  for  such  tramps,  I  did  not  believe  their 
story,  yet,  out  of  pity,  I  sent  them  forty  francs  to  buy  bread  and 
declined  to  pay  their  passage,  as  it  was  thought  here  that  they 
were  en  route  for  America. 

Then  I  received  a  letter  from  Prof.  Dr.  Lucien  Gautier,  of  the 
Protestant  Theological  School  in  Geneva,  stating  that  Athanasius 
had  appeared  there  and  asked  to  be  admitted  as  a  student  of 
theology,  but  they  had  declined  and  had  aided  in  paying  his  fare 


7i6  The  Whitening  Fields 

back  to  Marseilles.  If  the  same  credulous  and  over-trustful  spirit 
still  prevails  in  Princeton  as  existed  in  1880-1882,  we  may  yet 
hear  of  this  man's  supplying  churches  in  New  Jersey  and  then 

turning,   as  did   one  M ,   and  cursing  the  faculty   who  had 

borne  with  him  and  taught  him  gratuitously.  It  is  a  fact  that  in 
some  of  our  theological  seminaries  there  is  less  strictness  as  to 
credentials  of  candidates  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  than  as  to 
those  brought  up  in  our  home  churches,  colleges  and  presby- 
teries. 

Professor  Gautier  did  right  to  shake  off  this  monkish  tramp. 

In  August,  our  attention  was  called  to  the  importance  of 
bookkeeping  as  a  part  of  a  missionary's  preparation,  and  I  wrote 
to  reiterate  what  had  often  been  written  before,  that  every  young 
missionary  candidate  should  have  some  definite  instruction  in 
bookkeeping.  No  young  man  going  out  can  tell  how  soon  he 
may  have  thrust  upon  him  the  accounts  of  a  large  station,  with 
banking,  cashing  drafts,  balancing  complicated  accounts,  etc. 
The  ordinary  "sundry"  accounts  of  theological  students  of  ten 
cents  for  peanuts  and  soda  water  do  not  exactly  qualify  a  young 
man  for  keeping  the  accounts  of  an  entire  station.  A  few  weeks' 
course  in  a  commercial  college  would  be  of  more  value  than  an 
equal  time  spent  in  almost  any  other  form  of  preparation. 

In  October,  we  gave  diplomas  in  Suk  el  Gharb  to  six  theo- 
logical students,  all  of  whom  gave  promise  of  usefulness.  That  is 
doing  well  for  Syria.  I  noticed  in  the  statistics  of  Princeton 
University  for  1901  that  305  graduated.  One  year  later,  they 
had  chosen  professions.  Business,  one  hundred  and  sixty-one ; 
law,  thirty-five ;  medicine,  twenty-five  ;  teaching,  twenty -three ; 
theology,  four.  What  a  showing  that  is  !  What  is  the  matter 
with  Princeton,  and  of  what  use  a  million  and  a  half  for  the 
theological  seminary,  if  students  are  not  forthcoming  ?  Our 
Beirut  College  does  not  make  a  much  better  show.  Very  few  of 
its  hundreds  of  graduates  have  become  preachers  of  the  Gospel. 
They  are  attracted  by  flattering  prospects  of  business  and  profes- 


Cook's  Tourists  717 

sional  success  in  Egypt  and  swept  away  by  the  tide  of  emigra- 
tion. The  English  language,  as  the  language  of  the  Syrian 
Protestant  College,  is,  for  the  present  at  least,  unfitting  men  to  be 
the  humble  pastors  of  Protestant  Arabic-speaking  churches  in 
Syria.  Dr.  Anderson  in  1863  said  that  he  feared  the  effect  of  an 
English  education  upon  Syrian  candidates  for  the  ministry.  Still, 
it  is  true  that  godly  Syrian  pastors  who  know  enough  English  to 
use  English  commentaries  and  other  books  are  broader  men  and 
last  longer  than  those  with  a  mere  vernacular  training.  When 
the  tide  of  emigration  turns  and  we  have  a  reformed  Syria,  there 
will  be  a  supply  of  well-trained  men  coming  back  from  America. 
Already,  three  of  our  pastors  are  returned  emigrants,  who  have 
seen  enough  to  satisfy  them  with  foreign  life  and  customs  and  are 
reconciled  to  a  humble  post  in  their  dear  native  land. 

We  were  favoured  this  summer  with  a  visit  from  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Albert  Erdman  of  Morristown.  We  were  refreshed  by  their  pres- 
ence in  our  mountain  home,  with  their  son  Paul  Erdman  and  the 
httle  motherless  grandson,  Frederick,  who  was  the  joy  of  all  our 
hearts. 

Syrian  missionaries  are  greatly  favoured  by  meeting  so  many 
good  and  eminent  friends  from  America,  owing  to  this  land 
being  the  Gate  of  Palestine  and  the  resort  of  Christian  tourists. 

Sometimes  American  tourists  come  here  who  do  not  seem  to 
know  why  they  came  to  Palestine.  One  man  said  it  was  an  im- 
position for  Cook  to  advertise  Palestine  tours,  as  there  is  not  a 
first-class  hotel  in  the  land  !  A  young  lady  from  America  was 
shown  through  the  college.  In  the  geological  museum,  she 
paused  before  the  case  of  fossil  fish  from  Lebanon,  and  re- 
marked to  the  professor,  who  was  her  guide,  "  Ah,  how  beautiful. 
I  suppose  these  are  the  work  of  the  students  ! "  She  evidently 
thought  they  were  etchings  on  stone. 

About  forty  years  ago,  a  broad-brimmed,  brown-bearded 
Californian  came  into  the  American  consulate,  took  a  chair,  and 

putting  his  feet  on  the  table,  remarked  to  Consul  J ,  "  I  suppose 

you  are  the  counsel."     "  Yes,  I  am  the  consul."     "  Well,  you  see,  I 


71 8  The  Whitening  Fields 

always  stops  on  the  counsels  when  I'm  travelling."     Mr.  J 

said,  "  Sir,  I  will  give  you  any  advice  you  need,  but  this  is  an 
office  and  I  do  not  run  a  hotel."  The  man  then  said,  "  Can  you 
tell  me  how  much  they  charge  for  deck  passage  on  a  mule  to 

Damascus  ?  "     Mr,  J told  the  kavass  to  inquire  and  the  man 

went  his  way. 

But  while  a  few  of  the  tourists  are  eccentric,  the  great  body 
are  intelligent,  cultivated  lovers  of  the  Bible  and  deeply  inter- 
ested in  Bible  lands. 

On  the  19th  of  December,  brother  Samuel  Jessup  of  Sidon  ar- 
rived from  America  bringing  with  him  our  new  missionary,  Miss 
O.  M,  Home.  They  had  a  violently  rough  passage  on  a  small 
Italian  boat  from  Naples  to  Smyrna,  and  at  times  were  in  peril. 
It  was  the  more  trying  to  Samuel,  as  he  had  suffered  on  the 
North  German  Lloyd  steamer,  just  before  reaching  Naples,  from 
ptomaine  poisoning  from  canned  meat.  Several  of  the  passengers 
were  seriously  ill  from  the  same  cause.  The  "  Jungle  "  had  not 
then  been  written,  and  greed  for  gain  suffered  packers  to  trifle 
with  the  lives  and  health  of  the  public. 

Dr.  Samuel  reached  Beirut  in  time  for  the  closing  session  of 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  mission,  and  after  a  brief  visit,  left  for 
Sidon,  just  in  time  for  the  funeral  of  the  saintly  Mrs.  Mary  Perry 
Ford,  mother  of  Dr.  George  Ford. 


XXVIII 

My  Latest  Furlough — Years   1 903-1 904 

THE    year  1903  opened  with  cholera  in  Damascus  and 
traffic  on  the  railway  stopped  on  account  of  cordons. 
There  was  an  unusual  interest  in  the  week  of  prayer  in 
college  and  church  in  Beirut. 

Having  prepared,  with  the  able  assistance  of  Mr.  Haurani,  a 
commentary  on  the  Pentateuch  based  on  Ellicott,  I  was  per- 
plexed by  being  unable  to  find  Volume  I  of  the  Arabic  manuscript. 
We  searched  my  library,  the  theological  class  library,  where  I 
had  used  it  with  the  class,  and  also  the  manuscript  case  in  the 
press,  but  in  vain.  Later  a  letter  came  from  Yebriid,  on  the  road 
from  Damascus  to  Palmyra,  from  a  student,  saying  that  he  found 
the  book  in  his  chest  on  reaching  home,  and  had  sent  it  to 
Damascus ;  so  after  the  cholera  cordon  was  removed,  it  was  for- 
warded to  me  to  my  great  relief.  The  preparation  of  books  in 
Arabic  is  laborious,  and  before  printing,  we  have  to  prepare 
three  copies  in  manuscript,  two  of  which  we  must  send  to  Con- 
stantinople to  the  public  censor  of  the  Bureau  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion. He  examines  it,  returns  a  corrected  copy  to  us  and  retains 
one  in  his  hbrary.  We  have  to  print  from  the  corrected  copy, 
and  before  issuing  the  book  after  printing,  we  send  a  volume 
back  to  Constantinople  to  be  compared  with  the  manuscript. 
This  naturally  costs  the  censor  and  his  aids  immense  labour,  and 
us  immense  patience. 

When  one  sees  the  scandalous  vitiiperation  and  the  exposures 
of  abominable  crimes  in  the  "  yellow  press  "  of  New  York  and 
Chicago,  he  can  almost  feel  reconciled  to  the  Turkish  restrictions 
on  the  press.  It  is  inconvenient  and  often  expensive  to  have  a 
manuscript  detained  in  Constantinople  for  a  year,  but  then  in  the 
East,  time  is  a  negligible  factor  in  most  matters,  and  one  gets 
used  to  waiting. 

719 


720  My  Latest  Furlough 

In  February,  Mr.  Samuel  Dennis  of  New  York,  a  trustee  of  the 
college,  spent  a  month  here  and  went  through  all  the  depart- 
ments  of  the  college  with  the  keen  scrutiny  of  an  experienced 
business  man  and  gave  many  useful  suggestions  to  the  faculty 
and  wise  counsels  in  addresses  to  the  students. 

March  8th  Professor  Day,  professor  of  geology  in  the  college, 
was  requested  by  Muzaffar  Pasha,  Governor  of  Lebanon,  to  pro- 
ceed to  Akoura,  a  village  in  the  heights  of  Lebanon,  situated  at 
the  foot  of  a  cliff  a  thousand  feet  high,  and  report  upon  a  land- 
slide which  threatened  to  overwhelm  the  village.  He  made  a  full 
report  and  received  the  thanks  of  the  government. 

Before  leaving  for  America,  March,  1903,  I  went  with  Mrs. 
Jessup  to  visit  Dr.  Mary  P.  Eddy  in  her  medical  mission  outpost 
at  M'aamiltein,  the  terminus  of  the  French  tramway  on  the  coast, 
twelve  miles  north  of  Beirut.  Her  house  and  hospital  are  in  the 
centre  of  the  Maronite  district  of  Kesrawan,  the  Spain  of  Syria, 
and  the  stronghold  of  papal  superstition.  Churches,  chapels, 
monasteries,  and  nunneries  abound.  They  are  perched  on  the 
rugged  mountain  crags,  and  ensconced  in  the  ravines  and  valleys. 
The  monks  and  bishops  own  almost  the  entire  landed  property 
of  this  part  of  Lebanon  and  they  have  kept  the  people  in  abject 
and  servile  subjection.  The  most  of  the  fellahin  (farmers)  are 
tenants  of  the  ecclesiastics  and  the  possession  of  a  Bible  or  the 
suspicion  of  liberal  or  Protestant  sentiments  will  eject  a  man  from 
his  house  and  ruin  his  family.  They  have  boasted  that  no  Prot- 
estant could  live  north  of  the  Dog  River.  When  Dr.  Mary 
leased  her  present  house,  the  patriarch  thundered  against  the 
landlord,  but  she  had  the  wit  and  the  grit  to  hold  on,  and  now  he 
declares  that  he  will  keep  Dr.  Mary  as  a  tenant  and  enlarge  or 
repair  the  house  to  suit  her.  The  priests,  monks,  and  nuns  who 
raged  against  her,  now  come  when  ill  to  consult  her  and  receive 
her  treatment.  Her  clinics  are  crowded  by  people  from  scores  of 
villages.  Her  professional  skill  and  mastery  of  the  Arabic 
language  with  a  thorough  insight  into  the  tastes  and  habits  of  the 


Mary  Eddy  Holds  the  Fort  721 

people  have  won  their  confidence.  Later  the  patriarch  proposed 
to  use  force  and  drive  her  back  to  Beirut,  and  the  American 
consul-general,  Mr.  Leo.  Bergholz,  sent  word  to  the  pasha  that 
Dr.  Mary  P.  Eddy  and  Miss  Holmes  in  Jebail  were  under  the 
protection  of  the  American  flag  and  interference  with  them  would 
not  be  tolerated. 

On  March  15th,  just  before  saiHng  for  America,  I  conducted 
an  Arabic  preaching  service  in  Beirut  in  the  house  of  Miss  Jessie 
Taylor.  The  congregation  consisted  of  Moslem  men  and  boys 
on  the  front  seats,  and  in  the  rear,  the  Moslem  and  Druse  girls 
of  the  school.  My  son  William  and  I  spoke  to  them  in  the 
plainest  manner  of  the  way  of  salvation  through  Jesus  Christ,  and 
the  men  leaned  forward  and  listened  with  close  attention  and  fre- 
quent signs  of  approbation.  The  common  people  of  Islam,  in 
the  cities  and  villages,  would  gladly  hear  the  Gospel  but  for  fear 
of  their  sheikhs  and  the  government.  It  is  a  fact  that  the  gov- 
ernment in  this  land  is  a  purely  sectarian  government,  ruled  by 
Moslems,  its  army  and  navy  Moslem,  its  public  schools  Moslem, 
and  its  laws  everywhere  discriminating  in  favour  of  Moslems  and 
against  Christians  and  all  others.  Christianity  has  not  a  fair 
chance.  Islam  is  exclusive,  assumptive,  and  domineering  where 
it  has  the  power.  But  there  are  multitudes  who  are  longing  and 
praying  for  liberty  of  conscience  and  liberty  of  worship. 

On  the  loth  of  May,  Rev.  Howard  S.  Bliss,  D.  D.,  son  of  the 
Rev.  Daniel  Bliss,  D.  D.,  and  for  ten  years  pastor  in  Upper  Mont- 
clair,  N.  J.,  was  inaugurated  as  president  of  the  Syrian  Protestant 
College.  The  father,  as  president  emeritus,  after  living  in  the 
Marquand  House  for  over  thirty  years,  moved  outside  the  college 
campus,  and  the  son,  now  president,  moved  in,  a  worthy  succes- 
sor of  his  noble  father. 

In  resigning  his  office  in  July,  1902,  Dr.  Daniel  Bliss  rendered 
his  thirty-sixth  and  final  report  to  the  board  of  managers,  closing 
with  the  words,  "  With  this  report  closes  the  first  generation  of 
college  history.     From  a  few  rented  rooms,  we  have  reached  the 


y22  My  Latest  Furlough 

threshold  of  a  university  career.  May  the  great  work  that  calls 
the  second  generation  be  achieved  in  the  fear  of  God." 

Whereupon  the  faculty  passed  the  following  minute  :  "  We, 
the  faculty,  with  hearts  full  of  affection  and  love  for  our  vener- 
able president,  desire  to  express  our  gratification  that,  in  health 
and  strength  beyond  that  usually  given  to  men  of  eighty  years, 
he  has  been  permitted  to  lay  down  the  burden  he  has  so  long 
and  faithfully  and  so  successfully  borne.  We  pledge  our  loyalty 
to  his  son  and  successor. 

"July  p,  igozy 

In  March  word  was  received  that  the  honoured  and  saintly 
mother  of  Dr.  D.  Stuart  Dodge,  Mrs.  William  E.  Dodge,  Sr.,  had 
been  summoned,  after  her  long  pilgrimage  of  ninety-four  years, 
to  the  joys,  privileges,  reunions,  and  occupations  of  the  heavenly 
life.  The  announcement  was  made  at  college  evening  prayers, 
and  it  was  received  by  the  great  concourse  of  students  with  a 
hush  of  reverent  sympathy. 

How  well  I  recall  my  many  visits  to  that  Christian  home  on 
Murray  Hill,  from  the  year  1852,  when  I  entered  Union  Semi- 
nary, until  my  last  visit.  She  was  a  woman  of  great  intellectual 
and  spiritual  power,  full  of  good  works,  and  full  of  intelligent  in- 
terest in  foreign  missions.  She  visited  Beirut  several  times  and 
won  the  esteem  and  admiration  of  both  the  foreign  and  Syrian 
community. 

She  was  disinterested,  generous,  devout,  and  prayerful — a 
model  wife  and  mother.  "  Aunt  Melissa,"  as  she  was  called  by  a 
large  number  of  nephews  and  nieces  and  friends,  was  a  universal 
favourite.  In  her  later  years,  when  no  longer  able  to  walk  to 
church,  she  rode  in  her  wheeled  chair,  and  continued  to  attend 
the  house  of  God  at  an  age  when  the  aged  are  usually  supposed 
to  be  too  infirm  to  venture  out.  And  the  loving  devotion  and 
thoughtful  attention  of  her  son,  Dr.  Stuart,  were  most  affecting. 
He  was  like  husband,  son,  and  daughter  combined,  tenderly  an- 
ticipating every  want.  There  are  few  such  mothers  and  few  such 
sons.     Well  I  recall  his  early  desire  to  be  a  foreign  missionary 


A  Noble  Son — Homeward  Bound 


723 


and  when  God  in  His  providence  hedged  up  his  way,  he  nobly- 
sent  his  substitutes,  not  one  but  many,  and  no  small  part  of  the 
success  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  is  due  to  his  generous 
gifts  and  incessant  labours.  In  selecting  tutors  for  three  years' 
service  in  the  college,  he  has  shown  remarkable  sagacity  and 
knowledge  of  human  nature.  Only  the  revelations  of  the  last 
great  day  will  reveal  the  mighty  influence  for  good  exerted  by 
the  noble  family  of  Hon.  Wm.  E.  Dodge,  Sr. 

Pursuant  to  a  recent  custom,  favoured  by  the  Board,  I  was 
adopted  by  the  church  in  Kirkwood,  Mo.,  as  their  missionary.  I 
have  kept  up  an  intermittent  correspondence  with  that  church 
ever  since.  The  relations  between  churches  and  their  own  mis- 
sionaries are  very  delightful. 

On  the  i6th  of  March,  1903,  I  sailed  for  America  with  Mrs. 
Jessup.  Our  furlough  in  Syria  comes  every  eight  years.  Only 
those  who  have  been  engaged  in  exacting  labours  for  a  long 
period  abroad  can  appreciate  the  feelings  of  one  who  treads  the 
deck  of  a  steamer  homeward  bound.  A  heavy  load  of  responsi- 
bility and  care  seems  to  be  lifted  at  once.  The  air  is  clearer,  the 
sea  more  inspiring,  and  though  the  heart  is  divided  between  the 
adopted  land  and  dear  native  land,  the  thought  of  a  change  and 
the  anticipation  of  seeing  once  more  the  "  land  of  the  free  "  is 
enough  to  heal  the  sick  and  inspire  and  revitalize  the  weak. 

And  then  you  are  leaving  the  land  of  espionage  and  censorship 
and  secret  police  and  of  political  and  ecclesiastical  tyranny,  at 
least  for  a  time,  and  the  thoughts  reach  forward  and  westward  to 
a  land  which,  with  all  its  faults,  is  the  best  land  the  sun  shines  on. 

Now  inhale  the  pure  air,  face  the  ocean  gale,  rise  superior  to 
the  perils  and  discomforts  of  the  sea — for 

"  Should  the  surges  rise. 
And  rest  delay  to  come, 
Blest  be  the  sorrow,  kind  the  storm, 
Which  drives  us  nearer  home." 

We  stayed  a  week  in  Naples,  then  on  by  North  German  Lloyd 
steamship  Moltke,  by  Gibraltar  and  the  Azores — then  the  Nan- 


724  My  Latest  Furlough 

tucket  light-ship — Fire  Island,  Sandy  Hook,  the  Narrows — the 
American  flag  waving  everywhere, — and  the  friends  on  the  wharf 
and  the  reunions  and  the  greetings,  and  even  the  uniformed  cus- 
tom-house officials,  though  they  overhaul  the  baggage,  seem 
like  blessings  in  disguise. 

(What  a  contrast  between  this  voyage  and  my  first  Atlantic 
voyage  in  December,  1855.  The  steamship  Moltke  was  of 
1 3,000  tons — the  bark  Sultana  was  300  tons  !  The  former  was 
forty-tree  times  the  size  and  tonnage  of  the  latter!) 

There  on  the  wharf,  April  13th,  were  two  sons  and  their 
wives,  one  daughter,  two  grandchildren,  and  other  kindred, 
among  them  a  brother-in-law,  who  has  met  me  on  the  pier  on 
every  visit  I  have  made  to  America.  There  were  also  Dr.  Den- 
nis, Dr.  A.  Erdman,  Dr.  A.  J.  Brown,  and  my  old  friends,  T.  B. 
Meigs  and  Judge  Vanderberg. 

We  were  the  guests  of  my  son,  Henry  W.  Jessup,  Esq.,  in  1 30th 
Street,  and  we  certainly  learned  the  length  of  New  York  City  if 
not  its  breadth  during  the  weeks  we  spent  in  that  lovely  home. 

A  basket  of  lemons  which  we  had  picked  from  our  own  trees 
in  Beirut  and  brought  in  cold  storage  were  in  perfect  order  on 
reaching  New  York. 

We  made  history  rapidly  the  next  i&w  months. 

On  the  20th  met  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Missions  in 
their  room  at  156  Fifth  Avenue;  on  the  21st  heard  George 
Kennan  and  Professor  Wright  of  Oberlin  lecture  on  Siberia,  at 
the  Quill  Club  ;  then  on  the  23d  and  24th  to  the  old  childhood 
homes  of  Mrs.  Jessup  and  myself  in  Binghamton  and  Montrose ; 
on  the  28th  attended  the  ordination  of  my  youngest  son,  Fred- 
erick Nevins,  by  the  Presbytery  of  Bath,  as  missionary  to  Persia, 
in  the  church  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Frost  in  Bath.  I  was  asked  to 
give  him  the  charge,  which  I  did  with  all  my  heart. 

I  was  glad  to  give  the  charge  to  my  own  son  and  to  aid  in 
setting  him  apart  as  a  missionary  to  Persia.  Why  not  Syria  ? 
was  the  question  of  many.  Frederick  preferred  to  go  farther 
afield  than  his  childhood's  home.  My  son  William,  who  is  a 
missionary  in  Syria,  went  to  America  when  he  was  two  years 


A  Blessed  Charge  to  Service  725 

old  and  his  coming  to  Syria  was  going  to  a  foreign  land.  Fred- 
ericl<  said  going  to  Syria  would  be  going  on  a  home  mission  and 
he  wanted  to  go  to  a  foreign  land  as  his  father  did  in  1855. 

I  felt  a  strong  drawing  towards  Persia.  It  was  through  the 
burning  eloquence  of  the  sainted  Stoddard  of  Persia  that  I 
received  one  of  my  early  impulses  towards  foreign  missionary 
work,  during  his  visit  to  Yale  College,  his  alma  mater,  during  my 
freshman  year.  And  in  1882-1883  I  was  nominated  American 
Ambassador  to  Persia  by  President  Arthur,  and  declined  to  go, 
as  I  could  not  give  up  my  missionary  work,  and  now  it  was  a  joy 
to  see  my  youngest  son  going  to  that  same  land  as  an  ambassa- 
dor of  Jesus  Christ.  As  my  youngest  son,  my  Benjamin,  it 
would  have  been  agreeable  to  my  parental  heart  to  have  him 
near  me  in  my  advancing  years.  The  heart  clings  to  the 
youngest,  but  I  would  not  give  to  the  Lord  that  which  cost  me 
nothing.  Freely  I  gave  him  up  and  invoked  for  him  the  Sa- 
viour's benediction.  He  had  been  chosen  as  the  special  mission- 
ary of  the  churches  of  the  Bath  Presbytery  and  before  sailing  he 
visited  them  all. 

On  the  7th  of  May  we  attended  his  graduation  at  Auburn 
Seminary. 

On  May  13th  Mrs.  Jessup  and  I  set  out  for  the  General  As- 
sembly at  Los  Angeles,  California,  in  "  Car  B  of  the  special  train, 
Assembly's  tour."  It  would  require  a  volume  to  tell  of  that  won- 
derful journey  over  mountain  and  plain  ;  of  the  inspiring  meet- 
ing of  the  Assembly  ;  the  great  and  good  people  we  met ;  and  the 
spiritual  uplift  of  that  great  meeting.  And  then,  on  the  return 
journey,  new  perils  in  the  great  Kansas  floods  along  the  caving 
banks  of  the  ^treacherous  Missouri  River,  so  that  for  twenty-four 
hours  our  train  was  reported  lost  in  some  unknown  region  among 
the  floods, — and  our  gratitude  at  getting  safely  over  the  St.  Louis 
bridge  and  away  from  East  St.  Louis  which  was  two-thirds  under 
water. 

June  7th,  after  preaching  in  the  Fifth  Avenue  Church,  New 
York,  a  lady  spoke  to  me  and  said  that  her  grandmother  gave  a 


726  My  Latest  Furlough 

contribution  to  Levi  Parsons,  the  first  missionary  to  Palestine,  in 
1819. 

It  took  two  elders  and  one  clergymen  to  clothe  me  with  the 
clerical  gown  in  which  to  preach  to  that  congregation.  Gowns 
are  eminently  becoming  and  levelling,  as  a  poor  man  looks  as 
well  as  a  rich  man,  but  I  have  never  yet  possessed  one.  Our 
college  professors  in  Beirut  have  adopted  the  hood,  cap,  and 
gown  habit  and  on  great  occasions  give  the  platform  an  air  of 
rainbow-hued  splendour.  Yet  they  cannot  vie  with  the  Greek 
and  Maronite  clergy  with  their  mitres  and  embroidered  and 
jewelled  robes.  I  once  at  a  funeral  in  Beirut  wore  a  black  velvet 
study  cap  to  protect  my  head  from  the  cold  wind  as  the  service 
was  in  the  open  air.  Dr.  Post  stood  by  me  without  a  cap.  The 
humble  people  at  once  decided  that  I  was  the  bishop  and  Dr. 
Post  only  a  priest  or  deacon ! 

June  lOth  "  we  three"  attended  the  conference  of  the  Board's 
secretaries  with  the  "  outgoing  "  missionaries,  among  whom  was 
our  Frederick.  It  lasted  a  Aveek  and  was  about  as  useful  to  us 
old  missionaries  as  the  new  recruits.  We  did  our  part  in  giving 
practical  ideas  to  these  fine  young  men  and  women  who  were 
about  to  sail  for  Africa  and  all  parts  of  Asia. 

One  evening  (June  nth),  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Balcom  Shaw  invited  me 
and  my  three  sons,  a  missionary,  a  law}'er,  and  a  doctor,  to  a 
dinner  given  to  us  by  him  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  at  which 
fourteen  Presbyterian  ministers  were  present.  It  was  an  un- 
speakable privilege  to  meet  such  men,  and  the  memory  of  that 
occasion  is  very  delightful. 

On  the  1 3th  we  were  among  the  privileged  guests  at  a  garden 
party  given  to  members  of  the  conference  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John 
Crosby  Brown  on  Orange  Mountain,  in  their  beautiful  home, 
beautiful  for  situation  as  Mount  Zion  is  beautiful,  and  beautiful 
in  its  cordial,  bounteous  and  loving  Christian  hospitality.  Many 
will  be  the  comforting  memories  of  that  scene,  its  host  and 
hostess,  its  lawns  and  gardens  and  hothouses, — when  these 
young  missionaries  are  scattered  abroad  in  distant  and  perhaps 
desolate  regions, 


Yale  Alumni  Dinner  727 

Then  after  various  visits  and  services,  I  went  to  New  Haven  to 
Yale  commencement.  It  was  delightful  to  be  the  guest  of  my  dear 
classmate,  Dr.  Theodore  T.  Hunger,  and  a  fellow  guest  with  such 
genial  men  as  Hon.  Andrew  D.  White,  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott,  and 
my  classmate  Enos  N.  Taft.  It  was  a  surprise  to  find  such 
weather  on  the  23d  of  June.  From  the  time  of  my  arrival,  for 
two  days  it  rained  most  incessantly  and  we  sat  before  a  blazing 
fire  in  the  grate,  morning  and  evening.  The  growth  of  Yale  in 
numbers  and  in  buildings  has  been  marvellous.  The  campus  has 
crossed  streets  and  blocks  so  that  I  got  lost  trying  to  find  my 
way  about.  The  Peabody  Museum  interested  me  greatly  and  I 
was  fascinated  by  the  exquisite  specimens  of  minerals  and  fossils. 

The  alumni  dinner,  when  1,500  sat  at  the  table,  was  an  im- 
pressive sight,  and  we  four  of  the  class  of  1851  were  near  the 
highest  tables  of  the  oldest  alumni  next  the  platform.  The  after 
dinner  speeches  were  good,  but  what  was  my  amazement  to  see 
the  President  of  Yale  University  coolly  drawing  out  a  match  and 
lighting  a  cigar  and  puffing  out  smoke  before  that  vast  multitude 
of  graduates  and  students.  Shades  of  Elihu  Yale,  of  Dwight  and 
Day  and  Woolsey  and  Porter !  "  What  a  fall  was  that,  my 
countrymen  "  and  my  fellow  alumni  !  Has  the  President  of  Yale, 
who  preaches  and  teaches  continence  and  self-control  to  2,500 
university  boys,  no  control  over  the  appetite  for  cigar  smoke?  I 
exclaimed  when  I  saw  it.  Dr.  Munger,  who  sat  by  me,  said, 
"  Times  have  changed  since  our  day.  Yale  is  not  what  it  was. 
It  is  in  some  things  better,  in  some  things  no  better."  I  agreed 
with  him,  Dr,  Schaff  said  to  me  that  the  Heidelberg  fifth  cente- 
nary celebration  was  the  greatest  beer  drinking  bout  in  human 
history.     Is  Yale  commencement  to  shrink  into  a  smoking  bout  ? 

June  27th  I  made  a  pilgrimage  with  my  son  Frederick  and 
my  niece  Fanny  and  her  husband,  Rev.  Jas.  R.  Swain,  from 
Flushing  to  Southampton,  L.  I,,  the  home  of  my  ancestors.  We 
visited  our  cousins  the  Fosters,  went  to  the  house  where  my 
father  and  his  father  were  born,  visited  the  ancient  cemeteries  and 
the  rolling  Atlantic  surf.  We  returned  to  Flushing  for  Sunday 
and  then  went  to  the  old  restful  village  of  my  childhood,  the 


728  My  Latest  Furlough 

lovely  Montrose,  with  its  maple  avenues,  lawns,  and  forest-crowned 
hills.  The  fishing  excursions  with  my  sons  and  grandsons  were 
frequent  and  often  Ashless.  We  had,  however,  outdoor  exercise, 
good  appetites,  and  sound  sleep  at  night. 

A  prominent  character  in  my  brother  William's  family  was  his 
"  coloured  "  man- of-all- work,  Gabriel  Chappel.  He  had  been  the 
body  servant  of  General  Gordon  in  the  South  before  the  war,  and 
came  North  after  peace  was  restored.  He  was  intelligent,  active, 
a  good  groom,  gardener,  and  carpenter,  and  was  prominent  in  the 
African  Church.  He  was  also  a  champion  prize  winner  in  the 
cake  walk,  and  a  politician.  The  negro  brethren  down  in  the 
valley  in  Montrose  at  one  time  were  divided,  some  being  in 
favour  of  slavery  and  some  opposed  to  it.  They  once  had  a 
meeting  to  decide  what  colour  to  whitewash  the  meeting-house. 
Gabriel  was  once  at  Alford  railroad  station  with  my  brother's 
carriage  and  about  to  drive  back  the  eight  miles  to  Montrose 
alone.  A  stranger  accosted  him  and  asked  to  ride,  as  there  was 
no  stage  going.  Gabriel  took  him  in.  On  the  way,  he  told  Ga- 
briel he  was  coming  to  Montrose  on  business  and  wanted  to  know 
who  was  the  best  lawyer  in  town.  Gabriel  replied,  "  This  team 
belongs  to  Judge  Jessup  and  he  is  said  to  be  the  most  laivless 
man  in  northern  Pennsylvania.  You'd  better  try  him."  The 
stranger  smiled  inwardly  and  called  on  my  brother  the  next  day 
and  told  him  of  Gabriel's  flattering  language  and  they  had  a  good 
laugh  together.  Gabriel  died  in  1905,  greatly  lamented  by  all 
who  knew  him.     He  was  above  eighty  years  of  age. 

While  in  Montrose,  the  heirs  of  my  childhood's  pastor.  Rev. 
Henry  A.  Riley,  presented  to  me  for  the  Syrian  Protestant  Col- 
lege his  fine  cabinet  of  minerals  and  fossils  which  used  to  be  my 
delight  and  wonder  when  a  boy.  For  twenty-five  years  since  his 
death,  the  glass  cases  had  never  been  opened,  and  I  spent  days 
with  my  four  grandsons  and  several  nephews  and  friends  in  dust- 
ing, arranging,  and  packing  in  six  strong  boxes  this  valuable  col- 
lection. The  coal  fossils  from  the  Lackawanna  and  Wyoming 
anthracite,  the  fossil  ferns  and  plants  from  the  Montrose  old  red 
sandstone,  and  the  Devonian  fossils  from  Central  New  York,  are 


The  Attack  on  Consul  Magelsen  729 

an  addition  to  the  Beirut  College  cabinet  which  could  not  have 
been  secured  in  any  other  way,  and  the  Riley  family  deserve  sin- 
cere thanks  for  their  generous  donation. 

Then  August  9th  came  the  shock  of  the  death  at  Bar  Harbor 
of  Wm.  E.  Dodge,  a  worthy  son  of  a  noble  father. 

On  the  22d  we  bade  farewell  to  PVederick  on  the  deck  of  the 
Campania,  commending  him  in  prayer  to  God,  rejoicing  that  this 
dear  son  and  brother  was  going  on  the  King's  business  and  at  the 
King's  command. 

We  were  greatly  stirred  by  the  cablegram  in  the  papers  that 
"  the  American  Vice-Consul  Magelsen  had  been  assassinated  in 
Beirut,"  and  that  the  ships  Brooklyn,  San  Frajicisco,  and  Machias 
had  been  cabled  to  proceed  to  Beirut.  It  soon  turned  out  that 
he  had  only  been  shot  at  and  not  shot,  but  Mr.  Magelsen  had  the 
pleasure  of  reading  obituary  notices  of  himself  in  scores  of  Amer- 
ican journals.  The  President  acted  with  his  usual  promptness  in 
ordering  those  ships  to  Beirut,  and  they  arrived  in  the  "  nick  of 
time,"  as  a  riot  broke  out  between  the  hereditary  factions  of  Mos- 
lems and  Greek  Christians  in  Beirut,  which  threatened  to  produce 
a  massacre,  but  the  presence  of  these  ships,  and  Admiral  Cotton's 
declaration  that  in  the  case  of  a  Moslem  rising,  he  would  land 
marines  and  take  possession  of  the  city,  spurred  the  worse  than 
worthless  Waly,  or  governor-general,  to  put  a  stop  to  the  riot. 
Great  excesses  had  been  committed.  Innocent  Greeks  were 
murdered  in  their  houses  at  noonday,  and  firing  was  going  on 
promiscuously,  when  the  consul  and  the  admiral  reached  the  spot 
and  virtually  forced  the  Waly  to  "  call  off  his  dogs  "  and  stop  the 
bloodshed.  Thousands  of  Christians  had  fled  from  the  city,  and 
for  three  years  afterwards  some  of  their  houses  remained  unoc- 
cupied. During  the  excitement,  some  4,000  armed  Maronite 
Catholics  rallied  in  Lebanon  and  threatened  to  rush  down  from  the 
mountains  and  punish  the  Beirut  Moslems,  but  the  consuls  and 
pashas  succeeded  in  restraining  them,  pledging  that  no  further 
outrage  should  occur. 

These  panics  among  Syrian  Christians  are  terrible  and  uncon- 
trollable.    Usually  in  other  lands,  when  a  riot  occurs,  the  people 


730  My  Latest  Furlough 

look  to  the  government  and  the  military  to  restore  order.  But 
here  in  Syria,  where  the  military  are  all  Moslems,  the  Christian 
people  are  as  much  afraid  of  the  soldiers  as  of  a  mob  of  Moslem 
roughs,  and  they  can  never  forget  that  regular  troops  joined  in 
the  awful  massacres  in  Damascus,  Hasbeiya,  and  Deir  el  Komr  in 
i860. 

The  faithless  Waly  of  Beirut,  Rashid  Effendi,  was  removed  to 
a  distant  post,  and  another  appointed  in  his  place,  who  has  suc- 
ceeded well  in  keeping  order. 

One  day  an  American  resident  in  Beirut  remarked  to  a  com- 
pany of  foreign  and  Syrian  friends,  "  Years  ago  two  little  boys 
rode  on  one  donkey  in  Beirut.  One  of  those  boys  is  now  pres- 
ident of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  (Dr.  Howard  S.  Bliss),  and 
the  other  is  Theodore  Roosevelt,  President  of  the  United  States." 
One  of  the  Syrian  gentlemen  here  observed,  "  And  the  donkey, 
what  has  become  of  him  ?  "  He  answered  his  own  question, 
"  The  donkey  is  now  Waly  of  Beirut."  That  remark  shows  the 
estimate  in  which  that  Waly  was  held  by  the  people  of  Syria  and 
his  removal  was  a  positive  relief  to  the  tension  of  the  public  mind 
in  Syria.     He  was  distrusted  by  all  sects  and  he  bled  all  alike. 

The  respectable  Moslems,  merchants  and  literary  men,  are  men 
of  peace,  and  as  they  have  everything  to  lose  and  nothing  to 
gain  by  rioting  between  Moslems  and  Christians,  they  cooperate 
with  the  Christian  notables  in  trying  to  keep  order. 

But  alas,  it  is  hard  to  control  drunken  Moslems  and  drunken 
Greeks  and  Maronites.  An  orthodox  Moslem  will  not  touch 
ardent  spirits,  not  even  wine.  The  Koran  says,  "  Surely  wine 
and  games  of  chance  and  statues  and  the  divining  arrows  are  an 
abomination  of  Satan's  work  "  (Sura  5  :  92).  "  Whosoever  drinks 
wine,  let  him  suffer  correction  by  scourging,  as  often  as  he  drinks 
thereof "  (Hidayet  2:53).  But  in  these  degenerate  days,  espe- 
cially since  the  occupation  of  Syria  by  six  thousand  French 
troops  in  i860,  intemperance  has  greatly  increased.  When  I 
first  came  to  Syria,  the  Pasha  of  Beirut  closed  the  only  grog- 
shop. Now  there  are  120  licensed  saloons,  and  Moslems  of  the 
two  extremes  of  society,  the  Turkish  civil  and  military  officers 


Drunkenness  in  Syria  731 

and  the  lowest  class  of  boatmen  and  artisans,  drink  as  much  as 
the  foreign  Ionian  Greeks,  and  the  native  so-called  Christian 
sects.  The  Moslem  middle  class,  the  well-to-do  merchants,  the 
Ulema  and  property  owners,  are  generally  temperate  and  peaceable. 

There  are  old  feuds  arising  from  stabbing  affrays  between  the 
Greek  masons  and  quarrymen  of  the  southern  suburbs  of  Beirut 
and  the  Moslems  of  the  Busta  quarter,  through  which  the  Greeks 
must  pass  on  the  way  in  and  out  of  the  city.  A  glass  or  two  of 
arrak,  the  poisonous  Syrian  whiskey,  will  make  a  Greek  insolent 
and  a  Moslem  pugnacious,  and  on  the  feast  days,  which  come 
about  once  a  week,  the  Greeks  generally  throng  the  saloons  and 
the  arrak  does  its  work.  As  every  native  in  Beirut  (and  one 
might  say,  in  all  Syria)  carries  either  a  knife  or  a  revolver  in  his 
girdle,  not  much  time  passes  between  an  exciting  word  and  a 
knife  thrust  or  a  pistol-shot.  Some  one  will  be  killed.  The 
murderer  will  be  caught,  imprisoned  for  a  few  weeks  until  his 
friends  bribe  him  free,  and  then  he  is  ready  for  another  victim. 
If  a  Christian  is  killed,  a  Moslem  will  be  killed  in  revenge,  and  if 
a  Moslem  is  killed,  a  Christian  will  fall.  The  want  of  punish- 
ment for  crime  and  the  prevalence  of  bribery  make  crime  easy 
and  life  insecure. 

If  all  the  saloons  in  Beirut  were  shut  and  the  liquor  traffic  sup- 
pressed, there  would  be  few  disturbances  of  the  peace.  And  if 
the  law  against  carrying  concealed  weapons  were  executed,  there 
would  be  little  danger  of  Moslem  "  uprisings."  As  it  is,  a  Chris- 
tian boy  will  now  and  then  be  searched  for  weapons,  but  Moslems 
are  unmolested.  This  is  the  weakness  of  the  vi^hole  system.  It 
is  a  sectarian  government  and  rules  in  the  interest  of  one  sect. 
Such  a  state  of  things  is  antiquated  and  narrow  and  cannot  long 
survive  the  contact  with  modern  civilization. 

Admiral  Cotton  and  his  officers  greatly  endeared  themselves 
to  the  American  colony  in  Beirut  in  the  mission  and  the  college, 
and  the  admiral  addressed  the  college  students,  giving  them  excel- 
lent advice. 

In  August,  1855,  I  went  on  a  trout  fishing  trip  to  the  Beaver- 


73^  My  Latest  Furlough 

kill,  Delaware  County,  N.  Y.,  on  invitation  of  my  dear  friend, 
Dr.  David  Torrey  of  Delhi.  In  the  party  was  young  Titus  B. 
Meigs.  We  had  a  week  of  marvellous  success  in  the  woods, 
bringing  back  about  a  bushel  of  trout. 

This  summer  of  1903  Mr.  Meigs,  now  a  large  lumber  merchant 
and  landowner,  invited  me  to  visit  him  on  FoUensbee  Pond,  near 
Tupper  Lake,  in  the  Adirondacks.  I  reached  his  cottage  Sep- 
tember 19th,  after  driving  six  miles  through  the  woods  from  the 
railroad  and  then  rowing  two  and  a  half  miles  to  the  spruce  log 
cottage.  It  was  an  ideal  spot,  quiet  and  peaceful,  the  unbroken 
forests  coming  down  solid  to  the  water's  edge  and  unapproach- 
able, as  Mr.  Meigs  owned  25,000  acres  around  the  lake  on  every 
side.  The  first  afternoon  we  trolled  for  pickerel  and  I  had  the 
glorious  luck  to  haul  in  a  pickerel  twenty-nine  inches  long  and 
weighing  six  and  a  half  pounds.  Three  days  later  I  caught  a 
pike  twenty-seven  and  a  half  inches  long  weighing  five  pounds. 
Our  luck  was  varied,  with  bass  and  pickerel.  The  calm  repose 
and  lovely  landscape  refreshed  my  very  soul.  It  was  an  unspeak- 
able comfort  to  visit  these  refined,  intelligent,  and  godly  famiHes 
of  Mr.  Meigs,  his  son,  and  son-in-law. 

After  a  week  in  the  woods  I  went  to  Mount  Hermon,  North- 
field,  and  spent  the  Sabbath  with  Mr.  Duley,  who  was  once  our 
guest  in  Mount  Lebanon.  It  was  a  privilege  to  speak  to  those 
earnest  young  men  in  preparation  for  future  usefulness.  I  found 
a  decided  interest  in  missionary  work. 

I  returned  then  to  Montrose,  the  dear  old  home,  where  every- 
thing reminded  me  of  childhood  days  and  youthful  happiness. 
With  my  grandsons  and  nephews  I  overhauled  the  old  cabinets 
of  minerals  and  fossils  in  father's  office  and  made  little  boxes  for 
each  of  them  with  specimens  of  the  various  ores  and  stones. 
Father  used  to  enjoy  seeing  his  boys  interested  in  natural  science 
and  said  we  had  the  "  stone  fever,"  and  I  was  delighted  to  find 
that  some  of  my  grandsons  had  a  passion  for  geology. 

After  visits  in  Binghamton,  where  I  had  an  Arabic  service,  and 
Oswego,  I  attended  the  Synod  of  New  York  at  Ithaca  and  had 
the  pleasure  of  seeing  Cornell  University.     It  was  a  pleasure  to 


The  Stone  Fever  733 

meet  Judge  Francis  M.  Finch,  whom  I  knew  in  Yale  as  a  member 
of  my  brother  Wilham's  class  of  1850. 

In  Binghamton  Dr.  Cobb  presented  me  with  a  box  of  beautiful 
specimens  of  the  zinc  ores  of  Joplin,  Missouri ;  and  in  Scranton  I 
packed  a  box  of  the  coal  fossils  from  the  mines,  and  shipped 
them  all  to  New  York  en  route  for  the  college  in  Beirut. 

On  November  i6th  I  addressed  the  Congregational  Union  of 
New  York  at  the  St.  Denis,  and  had  the  honour  of  hearing 
Dr.  Herrick  and  Miss  Dr.  Patrick  of  Constantinople. 

On  the  following  day  Mrs.  Jessup  and  I  left  New  York  for 
St.  Louis  to  attend  a  foreign  missionary  conference,  with  Dr. 
Halsey  of  the  Board.  Mr.  Coan  of  Persia  and  Mr.  McConaughy 
were  in  attendance.  We  were  the  guests  of  Mrs.  Mermod  at 
Kirkwood,  where  the  pastor.  Rev.  P.  V.  Jenness,  with  his  people, 
had  adopted  me  as  their  missionary.  It  was  my  privilege  to 
speak  several  times  in  the  Kirkwood  Church  and  in  Webster  Grove; 
in  several  churches  in  St.  Louis  (Dr.  Gregg's  and  Mr.  Chalfant's) ; 
and  at  the  ministers'  meeting  at  the  Presbyterian  rooms ;  and  in 
the  library  of  Mr.  Semple.  At  Grace  Church  Mr.  Chalfant,  Sr., 
said  to  me  that  his  China  missionary  son  had  led  seven  men  to 
the  missionary  field,  and  he  himself  was  led  to  become  a  mis- 
sionary by  an  address  I  once  delivered  in  Lafayette  College. 
Truly,  "  bread  cast  on  the  waters  "  does  return,  though  it  be 
"  after  many  days." 

On  the  2 1st  we  were  all  invited  to  make  an  automobile  trip 
around  the  Exposition  grounds  and  buildings,  then  rapidly  ap- 
proaching completion.  We  called  on  President  Francis  and 
Professor  Rogers.  Professor  Rogers  expressed  interest  in  the 
exhibition  of  a  model  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  in  Beirut, 
and  promised  to  give  it  an  eligible  position  in  the  Educational 
Building.  I  agreed  to  have  it  finished  in  due  season  after  my 
return  to  New  York.  On  our  last  day  in  St.  Louis,  we  removed 
to  the  Southern  Hotel  in  the  city  and  met  my  Yale  classmate, 
Gen.  John  W.  Noble,  who  insisted  on  our  having  the  best  of 
everything,  and  when  I  came  to  pay  the  bill  on  our  departure  the 
clerk  informed  me  that  it  had  already  been  paid.     That  was  Noble  ! 


734  ^y  Latest  Furlough 

We  spent  Thanksgiving  in  Binghamton  with  the  Lockwoods 
and  Leveretts  and  heard  one  of  Dr.  Nichol's  admirable  discourses. 
That  Binghamton  Church  and  pastor  are  as  near  the  ideal  as  any 
I  have  known.  The  church  of  1,200  members  are  devoted  to 
him  and  he  to  them.  He  is  a  living  force  in  the  community  and 
looked  up  to  by  clergy  and  people  of  all  churches.  He  is  a  true 
apostolic  bishop,  as  were  the  bishops  of  the  churches  in  Ephesus. 
Happy  is  such  a  pastor  and  happy  is  such  a  people ! 

December  1st  we  removed  to  New  York  and  were  the  guests 
of  my  son  Henry  W,  Jessup,  a  lawyer  and  an  elder  in  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Church,  and  who  keeps  up  the  family  tradition  handed 
down  from  my  father.  Judge  Wm.  Jessup,  and  my  brother,  Judge 
Wm,  H.  Jessup,  by  frequently  serving  as  commissioner  to  the 
General  Assembly.  I  am  thankful  that  as  he  did  not  become  a 
minister  he  became  an  elder,  and  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Home  Missions  and  of  the  Bible  Society,  keeps  in  touch  with  the 
great  work  of  the  Church  at  home  and  abroad. 

December  2d  I  began  my  work  of  making  a  new  model  of 
the  campus  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College.  Professor  Bumpus, 
of  the  Museum  of  Natural  History,  assigned  me  a  place  in  an 
immense  unoccupied  and  steam  heated  room  of  the  colossal 
edifice,  and  with  the  aid  of  Mr.  Strader,  a  first-rate  carpenter,  and 
Mr.  Orchard,  an  expert  taxidermist  and  decorator,  I  entered  on 
the  formidable  work.  I  had  photographs  and  measurements  of 
the  Beirut  campus  and  buildings  and  of  the  territory  below  the 
college  down  to  the  sea.  After  enlarging  the  scale,  the  wooden 
frame  was  made,  fifteen  by  eleven  feet,  the  wooden  ribs  of  the 
skeleton  sawed  and  nailed  on  so  as  to  show  the  elevation  of  the 
terraces  and  slopes  of  the  campus.  The  huge  frame  was  made  in 
three  sections,  so  exactly  fitted  that  when  covered  with  the 
artificial  grass  and  trees,  the  joints  were  not  visible.  The  frame 
was  covered  with  wire  gauze,  bent  and  moulded  to  correspond 
with  the  uneven  surface  and  then  coated  with  a  liquid  papier- 
mache  made  by  Mr.  Orchard.  I  do  not  recall  how  many  lumps 
of  this  plastic  material  and  how  many  quarts  of  liquid  glue,  with 


The  Model  of  the  College  73^; 

cork  and  sponge  and  leafy  sponge  and  moss  and  green  dye  we 
used.  But  day  by  day  it  grew  into  shape  and  when  finally  the 
stone  carved  models  of  the  buildings  arrived  from  Beirut,  Mr. 
Strader  had  finished  a  beautiful  polished  mahogany  and  plate 
glass  case,  fifteen  by  eleven  feet,  and  six  feet  high,  to  fit  over  the 
frame,  and  my  joy  was  full. 

Owing  to  constant  exposure  to  the  biting  and  freezing  winds 
which  often  assailed  me  when  I  came  out  from  my  steam -heated 
workshop  in  the  museum,  I  took  a  severe  cold,  which  obliged  me 
to  keep  to  my  bed  at  my  son's  house  for  eighteen  days. 

February  1 3th  Mr.  Morris  K.  Jesup,  president  of  the  Museum  of 
Natural  History,  invited  about  seventy-five  friends  of  Syria  and 
the  college  to  a  reception  at  the  museum  at  the  unveiling  of  the 
model  which  had  cost  me  so  much  time  and  labour. 

After  giving  a  descriptive  lecture  to  the  assembled  friends,  I 
found  myself  exhausted  and,  returning  to  the  hotel,  took  to  my 
bed  with  grippe, — where  I  remained  until  the  19th,  when  we  hired 
an  automobile  and  returned  to  Harry's  lovely  quiet  home  in  1 30th 
Street.  There  I  remained  in  bed  under  the  care  of  good  Dr. 
Spaulding  and  a  trained  nurse,  until  March  3d,  five  days  before 
sailing  for  Syria. 

Through  the  courtesy  of  Messrs.  E.  K.  Warren,  W.  N.  Harts- 
horn, and  A.  B.  McCrillis,  I  was  invited  to  take  passage  March 
8th  on  the  North  German  Lloyd  steamer  Grosser  Kurfurst  with 
eight  hundred  delegates  to  the  World's  Fourth  Sunday-School 
Convention  to  be  held  in  April  in  Jerusalem.  They  offered  me 
free  passage  and  reduced  rates  for  my  wife  and  daughter.  As  the 
time  drew  near,  and  I  found  myself  weak  and  exhausted  from 
long  illness,  I  began  to  doubt  the  morality  of  accepting  this  offer, 
as  I  would  be  expected  to  lecture  and  speak  during  the  voyage 
on  subjects  connected  with  missions  and  the  Bible  lands  and  I 
could  hardly  stand  on  my  feet.  However,  the  doctor  and  my 
sons  encouraged  me,  and  my  wife  and  daughter,  who  was  herself 
a  fellow  invalid  with  me,  felt  sure  that  the  sea  air  would  soon 
restore  my  strength,  so  on  the  appointed  day  we  drove  to  the 
ferry,  crossed  to  Hoboken,  and  with  the  aid  of  my  two  stalwart 


736  My  Latest  Furlough 

sons,  I  made  out  to  scale  the  stairway  up  the  side  of  the  lofty 
steamer.  My  heavy  winter  clothing  and  a  ponderous  ulster  over- 
coat made  it  difficult  for  me  to  move  about  the  ship.  The  crowd 
was  simply  indescribable.  Eight  hundred  passengers  hunting  for 
staterooms,  calling  to  stewards  to  bring  missing  baggage,  wedging 
their  way  through  the  narrow  passages  with  throngs  of  friends, 
compelled  me  to  take  refuge  in  a  corner  of  the  saloon  bidding 
good-bye  to  friends  until  the  good  ship  left  her  dock. 

We  found  our  stateroom  blocked  with  baskets  of  fruit  and 
flowers. 

The  ship  was  of  13,180  tons. 

The  sea  air  and  change  stiffened  my  bones  and  revived  my 
spirits,  and  I  was  able  to  deliver  seven  addresses,  on  advice  to 
tourists ;  Islam ;  Dr.  Kalley  and  Madeira ;  Moslem  women  and 
girls;  Abdul  Kadir  and  the  massacres  of  i860;  on  temperance  in 
Syria;  my  forty-eight  years  in  Syria.  I  could  hardly  whisper  be- 
fore sailing,  but  my  voice  soon  regained  its  strength.  Our  visits 
to  Madeira,  Gibraltar,  Algiers,  Malta,  Athens,  Constantinople, 
and  Smyrna  were  full  of  interest.  This  was  my  first  visit  to 
Algiers  and  Athens.  I  found  that  the  Moslems  in  Algiers  could 
understand  Syrian  Arabic,  though  their  pronunciation  is  very  dif- 
ferent. Athens  was  a  very  delightful  revelation.  In  the  exhila- 
ration of  seeing  the  Parthenon  and  other  sites,  I  forgot  my  phys- 
ical weakness  and  suffered  in  consequence,  so  that  I  was  laid  up 
the  next  day. 

In  Constantinople  we  were  taken  possession  of  by  our  old 
friends,  Consul-General  and  Mrs.  Dickinson  and  Miss  Mason,  who 
took  us  to  their  apartments  at  Hotel  Londres.  Miss  Mason  acted 
as  our  guide  to  the  Imperial  Museum  and  the  Mosque  of  St. 
Sophia,  and  took  the  ladies  to  the  bazaars.  Mrs.  Ponafidini  (nee 
Cochran),  wife  of  the  Russian  consul,  told  us  of  the  murder  of 
the  American  missionary,  Mr.  Labaree,  near  Salmas.  The  Sayyid 
who  killed  Mr.  Labaree  and  his  servant  intended  to  kill  her 
brother,  Dr.  Cochran. 

March  30th  Mrs.  Dickinson  took  us  in  her  carriage  to  Robert 
College.     We  first  called  on  my  old  friend,  President  Emeritus 


Robert  College  and  Beirut  College  737 

Dr.  George  Washburn,  and  then  attended  a  mass  meeting  of  stu- 
dents in  the  college  chapel,  presided  over  by  President  Gates. 
Addresses  were  made  by  Willard  of  Baltimore,  Frizzel  of  Toronto, 
and  myself,  and  a  statement  on  behalf  of  the  college  by  Presi- 
dent Gates. 

In  comparing  Robert  College  with  our  Syrian  Protestant  Col- 
lege in  Beirut,  a  natural  remark  would  be  that  these  two  colleges 
have  secured  the  two  most  beautiful  sites  in  the  Turkish  Empire, 
the  former  having  the  Bosphorus  (which  means  Ox- ford)  with  its 
unique  beauties  and  charming  landscape,  and  the  latter  the  com- 
manding view  of  the  blue  Mediterranean  and  the  snowy  range  of 
Lebanon.  Beirut  College  at  first  had  only  Arabic-speaking 
students  and  its  language  was  Arabic,  with  English  and  French 
as  secondary ;  Robert  College,  drawing  its  students  from  divers 
nationalities,  the  Bulgarians,  Greeks,  Armenians,  and  Turks, 
adopted  the  English  language  from  the  outset  and  largely  out- 
numbered the  Syrian  Protestant  College.  To-day  Syrian  Prot- 
estant College,  with  its  attractive  medical  and  commercial  de- 
partments, has  adopted  the  English  language  for  its  curriculum, 
with  Arabic,  French,  and  Turkish  as  secondary,  and  has  865 
students,  with  a  large  proportion  of  Armenian,  Persian,  Bulgarian, 
Greek,  and  Egyptian  students. 

In  religious  matters,  Beirut  Syrian  Protestant  College  is 
more  distinctively  religious  and  missionary  in  aiming  at  the 
religious  instruction  of  all  its  students,  and  both  are  im- 
portant factors  in  shaping  the  future  moral  destiny  of  Western 
Asia. 

March  1 3th  our  captain  gave  us  a  sail  to  the  Black  Sea  mouth 
of  the  Bosphorus.  As  we  passed  Robert  College,  the  building 
was  decorated  with  flags,  and  the  students  sang  and  cheered,  and 
returning,  we  set  sail  for  Smyrna.  Dr.  McLachlan,  of  the  Inter- 
national College  of  Smyrna,  lectured  that  evening.  •  The  next 
day,  five  hundred  and  eighty  of  our  company  visited  Ephesus. 
Dr.  Hoskins  of  Beirut,  who  had  come  on  to  meet  the  excursion, 
dehvered  an  address  the  evening  of  April  2d  on  Beirut,  Damas- 
cus, and  Baalbec, — and  the  passengers  raised  ;^290  for  the  press 


y38  My  Latest  Furlough 

in  Beirut.  Dr.  Hoskins  brought  word  of  the  serious  illness  of 
his  mother-in-law,  Mrs.  Dr.  W.  W.  Eddy  of  Beirut. 

On  Sunday,  April  3d,  I  introduced  Dr.  and  Mrs.  McNaughton 
of  Smyrna  to  the  audience  on  board,  and  after  a  stirring  account 
of  their  work  in  Asia  Minor,  the  company  gave  and  pledged 
^600  to  the  work. 

This  interesting  journey  was  now  near  its  end  for  me,  as  I 
was  to  land  in  Beirut.  And  what  a  unique  voyage !  Eight 
hundred  Sunday-school  superintendents,  teachers,  and  friends, 
all  of  one  heart  and  mind.  Prayer-meetings  daily,  with  Bible 
classes  and  lectures  ;  harmony  and  quiet  prevailed ;  not  a  profane 
oath  nor  an  intoxicated  passenger ;  there  was  not  a  wine  or  beer 
bottle  on  the  dining-tables ;  the  company  represented  all  that  is 
good,  manly,  and  womanly  in  our  Christian  land.  I  believe  that 
the  result  of  this  tour  will  be  a  great  increase  of  missionary  inter- 
est among  all  the  churches,  societies,  and  Sunday-schools  repre- 
sented in  this  delegation.  They  can  testify  to  what  they  have 
seen.  They  have  already  done  it  by  generous  contributions  to 
various  missions  visited.  I  thank  God  for  permitting  me  in  the 
closing  years  of  my  life  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  such  a  choice 
and  beloved  company  of  Christian  brothers  and  sisters. 

At  6  A.  M.,  April  4th,  we  cast  anchor  in  Beirut  harbour,  and 
crowds  of  our  friends  came  on  board  to  welcome  us :  brother 
Samuel  from  Sidon ;  my  son  William  from  Zahleh ;  my  daugh- 
ters, Mary  Day  and  Ethel  Moore  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  Col- 
lege ;  my  sons-in-law.  Professor  Day,  Professor  Moore,  and  Rev. 
Paul  Erdman ;  with  three  of  Ethel's  children ;  and  my  nephew, 
Stuart  D.  Jessup ;  President  Howard  Bliss,  Mrs.  Dale,  Professor 
Porter,  Mr.  Freyer,  and  a  company  of  Syrian  and  foreign  friends. 
It  was  a  joyous  reunion  and  a  time  of  hearty  thanksgiving  to 
God. 

At  ten  o'clock  the  ship's  company  came  out  to  the  college  and 
addresses  were  made  in  the  chapel.  In  the  evening  Dr.  Post  and 
Dr.  Samuel  Jessup  lectured  on  board  the  steamer  and  Dr.  Mackie 
and  others  sailed  with  them  to  Jaffa  for  Jerusalem. 


At  Home  Again  739 

I  was  now  at  home  in  Beirut,  the  beautiful,  with  the  blue  sea, 
the  snowy  summit  of  Surinin,  the  bright  spring  flowers,  and 
everytliing  homelike  and  familiar.  I  was  not  well  enough  to 
resume  work  at  once.  My  daughter  Mary,  Mrs.  Day,  insisted 
on  our  coming  to  her  house  and  there  for  days  we  welcomed  old 
friends. 

On  Wednesday,  April  6th,  a  conference  of  Syrian  preachers 
and  helpers  met  on  invitation  of  President  Howard  Bliss  in  his 
capacious  study  in  Marquand  House  and  for  several  days  dis- 
cussed important  religious  and  practical  subjects  and  united  in 
prayer.  The  delegates  were  guests  of  the  college,  occupying  the 
beds  vacated  by  the  students  absent  on  vacation  and  had  their 
meals  in  one  of  the  refectories.  Incidentally,  they  thus  became 
well  acquainted  with  the  college.  A  delightful  spirit  prevailed 
and  God's  presence  was  abundantly  realized,  and  many  a  testi- 
mony was  given  at  the  time  and  since  to  the  fresh  incentives  that 
were  received  to  more  effective  service. 

That  evening  they  met  in  the  Sunday-School  Memorial  Hall  in 
town  to  bid  me  and  mine  welcome  back  to  Syria.  Addresses 
were  made  by  Dr.  Bliss,  Dr.  Hoskins,  and  Pastor  Rev.  Asaad  er 
Rasi  to  which  I  responded.     Brother  Samuel  presided. 

This  conference  was  a  loving  conception  of  President  Bliss  and 
brought  our  scattered  pastors  and  preachers  into  close  touch  with 
the  work  of  the  college.  And  the  nearer  the  college  can  be 
kept  to  the  fundamental  idea  of  missionary  work,  the  more 
completely  will  it  answer  the  aim  of  its  founders  and  the  greater 
will  be  its  influence  for  good  in  the  East.  Hon.  E.  W.  Blatch- 
ford,  of  Chicago,  President  Bliss's  father-in-law,  was  a  valuable 
coadjutor  in  all  this. 

On  Friday,  April  8th,  the  British  contingent  of  the  Jerusalem 
Sunday-school  convention  reached  Beirut,  and  came  to  the  col- 
lege, where  addresses  were  made  by  Dr.  Munro  Gibson,  President 
Bliss,  his  father,  and  myself.  I  also  met  Dr.  Schofield  of  Lon- 
don, a  member  of  the  London  Central  Committee  of  our  As- 
furiyeh  Lebanon  Asylum  for  the  Insane. 


740  My  Latest  Furlough 

I  found  our  missionaries  greatly  concerned  by  the  persistent 
refusal  of  the  Ottoman  government  to  allow  to  our  missionaries 
in  Syria  the  same  immunities  and  privileges  which  are  given  to 
missionaries  of  all  other  nationalities,  Protestant  and  Catholic. 
For  many  years  we  have  petitioned  our  minister  in  Constanti- 
nople and  the  State  Department  but  without  effect.  We  are  thus 
discriminated  against  in  a  manner  which  no  European  state 
would  submit  to.  Minister  Leischman  insists  that  it  is  because 
he  is  of  inferior  rank,  and  that  if  made  ambassador  he  could 
at  all  times  communicate  directly  with  the  Sultan,  instead  of 
being  turned  over  to  the  ministry,  which  has  no  authority  to 
decide  any  political  question. 

April  nth  Mrs.  Dr.  Moore  with  her  husband  and  four  chil- 
dren left  for  Switzerland  for  Dr.  Moore's  regular  furlough.  It 
often  happens  that  it  is  better  for  health  and  the  purse  to  take 
one's  furlough  in  a  "  pension  "  in  Switzerland  than  to  go  to  the 
United  States,  where  both  the  climate  and  the  expense  of  living 
makes  one's  furlough  more  a  loss  than  a  gain. 

On  April  14th,  at  6  p.  m.,  Mrs.  WiUiam  W.  Eddy  entered  into 
rest,  aged  seventy-seven  years,  after  fifty-two  years  of  missionary 
life  in  Syria. 

She  was  born  in  Montgomery,  Orange  County,  N.  Y.  Her 
father  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Condit,  long  pastor  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Oswego,  N.  Y.  She  was  educated  at 
Mount  Holyoke  Seminary,  graduated  in  1846  and  was  the  first 
graduate  to  come  to  Syria  from  that  missionary  institution.  She 
taught  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  and  other  places.  November  24, 
1 85 1,  she  married  Rev.  W.  W.  Eddy  and  they  sailed  soon  on  the 
bark  Sultana,  arriving  in  Beirut  January  31,  1852.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Eddy  livfed  five  years  in  Aleppo  and  Kefr  Shima,then  twenty-one 
years  in  Sidon,  and  twenty-six  years  in  Beirut. 

She  lived  to  see  three  of  her  children  engaged  in  missionary 
work.  She  was  full  of  hospitality,  a  lover  of  the  people,  and  be- 
loved by  them,  a  "  mother  in  Israel,"  devotedly  fond  of  teaching 


Our  Mrs.  Eddy  741 

in  Bible  class  and  Sunday-school.  When  preparing  her  home 
for  a  prayer-meeting,  she  fell  and  fractured  her  thigh,  an  injury 
which  eventually  caused  her  death.  She  died  surrounded  by  all 
her  children  but  one  and  several  of  her  grandchildren.  Truly  her 
works  follow  her.  She  was  a  woman  of  great  strength  of  char- 
acter, a  strong  will  and  wonderful  energy,  which  traits  are  per- 
petuated in  her  descendants. 

April  22d  I  attended  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  Arabic 
journal,  Lisan  el  Hal,  at  the  house  of  the  editor,  Khalil  Effendi 
Sarkis.  Mr.  Sarkis  has,  by  enterprise  and  industry,  founded  and 
conducted  a  printing-house  and  edited  a  bi-weekly  and  daily 
journal.  The  Tongue  of  the  Times,  Lisan  el  Hal.  A  great  crowd 
of  Syrian  and  foreign  friends  were  present  and  prose  and  poetical 
addresses  abounded.  Arabic  poetry  lends  itself  with  great  effect 
to  such  occasions.  I  congratulated  him  on  his  success,  for  as 
editor  also  of  a  newspaper,  I  had  had  many  years  of  experience 
with  the  exasperating  methods  of  Turkish  censors. 

From  this  meeting,  I  went  to  President  Emeritus  Dr.  Daniel 
Bliss's  to  a  reception  given  to  Mr.  Marcellus  Hartley  Dodge,  Mr. 
Crofts,  and  Professor  Kepler.  Mr.  Dodge  has  since  that  time 
given  to  our  press  a  thirty  horse-power  oil  engine  which  has 
given  new  life  and  efficiency  to  our  work  of  printing,  and  to  the 
college  an  eye  and  ear  hospital. 

April  23d  we  visited  Zahleh,  where  we  remained  eleven  days, 
visiting  this  important  station  and  making  excursions  into  the 
mountain  and  the  plain.  William  had  found  a  crystalline  sand- 
stone slab  by  the  roadside  near  the  summit  of  the  Lebanon  ridge 
with  a  Latin  inscription  of  the  Roman  Emperor  Hadrian,  being 
a  "  definitio  sylvarum,"  a  boundary  mark  of  the  forests,  and  now 
there  is  not  a  tree  within  several  miles  of  it.  We  drove  up  to 
visit  it,  and  now  it  is  in  the  museum  of  the  Syrian  Protestant 
College  in  Beirut. 

Returning  to  Beirut  May  4th,  we  were  just  in  time  to  meet  the 
friends  who  had  met  in  the  girls'  seminary  to  unveil  an  oil-paint- 


742  My  Latest  Furlough 

ing  of  Miss  Eliza  D.  Everett,  which  was  presented  by  her  old 
pupils  resident  in  Cairo. 

The  next  day  was  a  still  more  impressive  scene,  the  unveiling 
of  a  splendid  white  Carrara  marble  statue,  life  size,  of  our  beloved 
Dr.  Daniel  Bliss,  president  emeritus  of  the  Syrian  Protestant 
College.  Addresses  were  made  by  Mr.  Nasim  Berbari,  of  Cairo, 
who  presented  the  statue  in  behalf  of  college  alumni  in  Egypt 
and  the  Sudan ;  President  H.  Bliss,  Dr.  George  E.  Post,  H.  H. 
Jessup,  Dr.  Scander  Barudi,  and  Dr.  Daniel  Bliss.  I  was  deeply 
affected  by  this  deserved  tribute  to  one  of  my  dearest  earthly 
friends,  and  it  was  a  scene  not  often  witnessed  in  this  world,  when 
Dr.  Bliss  stood  by  the  side  of  his  own  life-size  statue  in  marble 
and  expressed  his  gratitude  to  the  Egyptian  alumni  and  said, 
"  We  do  aim  in  this  college  to  make  perfect  men,  ideal  men, 
Godlike  men,  after  the  model  of  Jesus  Christ,  against  whose 
moral  character  no  man  has  said  or  ever  can  say  aught." 

It  is  a  striking  fact  that  the  only  two  marble  statues  erected  to 
eminent  men  by  modern  Syrians  are  the  statue  of  Dr.  Van  Dyck 
in  the  Greek  Hospital  of  St.  George  in  the  eastern  part  of  Beirut 
and  that  of  Dr.  D.  Bliss  in  the  college  in  the  western  extremity 
of  the  city.  "  Par  nobile  fratrum ! "  These  statues  prove  that 
the  people  of  the  East  are  not  ungrateful  for  what  men  of  the 
West  have  done  for  them. 

May  loth  the  semi-annual  meeting  of  the  mission  was  held  in 
Beirut.  At  the  mission  meeting,  it  was  decided  to  purchase  the 
Misk  and  Pharaun  houses,  the  former  for  a  permanent  manse  in 
memory  of  Col.  Elliot  Shepard,  and  the  latter  for  a  mission 
residence  and  library. 

A  Hindu,  of  Ahmedabad  in  India,  called  upon  me.  He  is  a 
student  of  Arabic  in  the  college,  and  has  begun  translating  into 
Hindustani  the  "  Life  of  Kamil." 

Dr.  George  Adam  Smith  visited  Beirut,  addressed  the  college 
students  and  preached  in  our  mission  church. 


Modern  Sidon  743 

The  last  of  May  we  visited  Sidon,  and  in  eleven  days  examined 
all  departments  of  the  work. 

Modern  Sidon  is  itself  an  antique  curiosity — a  town  of  the 
oldest  Oriental  pattern,  its  houses  flat-roofed,  its  streets  roughly 
paved,  and  in  many  places  arched  over.  There  not  being  room 
enough  within  its  narrow  walls  for  a  growing  population,  houses 
had  to  be  built  over  the  various  streets,  converting  them  into 
veritable  subways  or  tunnels.  In  many  places  the  arches  are  so 
low  that  a  horseman  must  dismount.  Dr.  Thomson  says  that 
"  Sidon  was  in  ruins  before  antiquity  was  born,"  and  the  town  is 
built  upon  successive  strata  of  ancient  ruined  Sidons.  The  gar- 
dens overlie  rich  treasure  of  buried  coins  and  antiques,  and  the 
foothills  to  the  east  are  honeycombed  with  Phoenician  tombs  and 
exquisite  sarcophagi.  But  a  city  cannot  live  on  its  ancient  his- 
tory, and  but  for  the  American  and  French  schools  which  have 
stirred  up  the  Moslem  Sidonians  to  open  schools  for  boys  and 
girls,  the  town  would  sleep  on  for  years  to  come  as  it  has  slept 
on  ever  since  the  soporific  influence  of  Islam  levelled  it  into 
slumber  1,200  years  ago.  It  was  once  the  commercial  mistress 
of  the  Mediterranean,  but  now  it  can  hardly  influence  a  steam 
launch  to  anchor  in  its  port.  The  breath  of  life  which  has  en- 
tered it  from  America  is  waking  up  its  young  men  and  maidens, 
and  some  day  it  may  recover  its  old  renown.  But  the  proximity 
of  thrifty,  vigorous,  commercial  Beirut,  with  its  port  and  steam- 
ers, its  railways  and  gas  lights,  its  government  headquarters,  its 
schools,  colleges,  and  hospitals,  its  printing- houses,  and  news- 
papers, its  quarantine  and  electric  tramway,  leaves  Sidon,  Tyre, 
and  Jebail,  the  old  Phoenician  trio,  stranded  on  the  sand-bars  of 
decrepit  antiquity. 

Sidon  is  a  restful  place  to  us  who  go  as  transient  visitors,  but 
there  is  little  rest  in  that  busy  hive  which  centres  in  Gerard  In- 
stitute, and  whose  awakening  influence  extends  out  through 
Southern  Lebanon  and  Galilee  of  the  Gentiles,  and  to  the  north, 
south,  and  west  of  glorious  Hermon.  The  mission  station  there 
superintends  twelve  evangelical  churches,  thirty-five  preaching 
stations,  twenty-four  schools,  with  2,000  pupils.     Hundreds  of 


744  ^y  Latest  Furlough 

the  Protestant  adherents  have  emigrated  to  America,  and  some 
of  them  are  bringing  back  new  ideas  and  new  aspirations  for  the 
elevation  of  their  loved  native  land.  For  however  dreary  and 
desolate  we  may  regard  many  parts  of  Syria,  it  is  a  fair  and  beau- 
tiful land  and  its  people  love  it  fondly. 

Returning  to  Beirut  in  June,  we  found  ourselves  at  once  in  the 
whirl  of  constant  duties  and  engagements.  We  had  an  important 
meeting  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  insane  hospital  at 
Asfuriyeh,  four  miles  from  Beirut.  Some  might  say,  "  What  has 
that  to  do  with  your  missionary  work?"  I  reply,  "  Much,  in 
every  way."  It  is  a  work  of  blessed  and  Christlike  compassion 
to  care  for  the  suffering  insane  and  their  more  suffering  relatives 
and  friends.  Hundreds  of  patients  have  been  treated  and  a  fair 
proportion  have  been  discharged  cured.  Moslems,  Jews,  Maro- 
nites,  Greeks,  Druses,  and  Protestants,  alike  have  received  the 
benefit  of  the  hospital,  and  in  view  of  the  fiendish  cruelty  with 
which  the  Lebanon  monks  of  the  monastery  of  Kozheiya  have 
treated  the  insane  in  past  years,  this  well-ordered  hospital  is  re- 
garded as  a  veritable  godsend  to  the  land.  An  aged  Moslem 
sheikh  from  Mecca  was  brought  to  the  hospital  in  a  state  of  de- 
lusional insanity,  and  on  recovering  his  reason  was  full  of  grati- 
tude. A  fanatical  priest,  who  had  been  wont  to  curse  and  de- 
nounce all  Protestants  as  emissaries  of  the  devil,  was  seized  with 
acute  and  violent  mania.  I  saw  him  in  the  strong  room  for 
violent  patients.  He  was  stark  naked  and  gesticulating  violently 
and  preaching  in  Arabic  against  his  imaginary  foes.  In  a  few 
months  he  recovered,  and  his  gratitude  knew  no  bounds.  His 
patriarch  and  bishops  sent  their  thanks  and  gratulations  to  the 
officers  of  the  hospital. 

The  eight];i  annual  report  gives  157  patients  as  under  care 
during  the  year,  of  whom  thirty-four  recovered  and  twenty-eight 
improved.  The  patients  have  come  from  Syria  and  Palestine, 
Armenia,  Arabia,  and  Egypt. 

The  site  is  healthful  and  there  have  been  no  cases  of  enteric 
fever  or  tuberculosis.  This  is  the  first  organized  institution  of 
the  kind  in  Western  Asia  and  is  a  missionary  hospital  in  the  sense 


A  Wonderful  Hospital  745 

that  it  was  founded  and  has  been  supported  by  Christian  men  and 
women  for  the  honour  of  Christ,  in  showing  the  true  spirit  of 
Christianity  by  caring  for  the  helpless  and  afflicted.  All  honour 
to  Mr.  T.  Waldmeier  and  the  doctor  and  nurses  for  their 
self-denying  devotion  to  the  mentally  afflicted  of  a  strange  land. 
I  know  of  no  other  form  of  Christian  service  which  requires 
more  of  self-sacrifice,  unless  it  be  that  of  the  leper  asylums. 

June  nth  I  attended  in  Aleih,  Mount  Lebanon,  the  funeral  of 
an  aged  peasant  in  the  Greek  Church.  Eight  priests  from  neigh- 
bouring villages  assisted  the  Khuri  Giurgius  in  the  service.  An 
aged  priest,  Antonius,  delivered  the  Arabic  sermon.  Scriptural, 
earnest,  and  truly  evangelical.  I  listened  with  interest  and  sur- 
prise, but  my  surprise  ceased  when  I  recognized  in  the  preacher 
an  old  theological  student  of  1886,  who  is  now  priest  of  the 
Orthodox  Church  in  Bhamdoun.  I  asked  him  how  he  could 
read  the  prayers  to  the  Virgin  in  the  Greek  liturgy,  and  he  said 
in  a  low  tone,  "  I  do  not  believe  them  and  pass  over  them  lightly, 
and  the  people  know  I  do  not  believe  them."  I  warned  him 
to  be  careful  lest  he  sear  his  conscience  by  seeming  to  be  what  he 
is  not.  An  enlightened  man  can  hardly  be  at  ease  in  the  Greek 
Church,  with  its  gross  adoration  of  the  sacred  ikons  or  pictures 
and  its  abject  Mariolatry.  And  the  mass  of  the  enlightened  youth 
of  Syria  in  the  Greek  sect  are  in  danger  of  going  into  infidelity, 
unless  they  compel  their  clergy  to  purge  their  liturgy  of  its 
creature  worship. 

June  20th  Sabat,  the  woman  who  cares  for  our  Beirut  house  in    \ 
the  summer,  was  shot  at  in  the  afternoon  by  Moslem  roughs,  and    I 
her  husband  was  shot  at  on  the  balcony  of  our  house.     With  a    t 
rotten,  bribe-taking  police,  we  have  no  redress.     Moslem  thieves 
and  murderers   roam  at  large,  or  if  imprisoned,  soon  bribe  their 
way  out,  so  that  Sabat  begged  me  not  to  complain.     A  few  as- 
sassins have  been  reported  as  exiled  to  Barbary,  Africa  I 

My  son-in-law.  Professor  Day,  is  collecting  snakes,  and  offers  a 
reward  to  the  boys  of  Lebanon  to  bring  him  specimens.     Many 


746  My  Latest  Furlough 

of  them  are  venomous  but  the  most  are  harmless.  In  1903 
Miss  Gordon,  who  was  living  with  Professor  West's  family  in 
Aleih,  was  bitten  by  a  poisonous  serpent  when  walking  out 
after  sunset  and  died  in  forty  minutes.  Since  that  time,  we  have 
warned  our  friends  against  walking  in  the  thickets  after  sunset. 
Mount  Lebanon,  with  its  stony  hillsides  and  innumerable  stone 
terraces,  is  a  safe  haunt  for  snakes,  and  the  black  snake,  viper, 
adder,  and  asp  are  not  infrequently  found. 

July  1st  I  met  at  the  Aleih  railroad  station  Dr.  Samuel  J.  Cur- 
tiss,  the  noted  writer  on  "  Primitive  Semitic  Religions  To-day  " 
in  Palestine.  He  was  returning  from  Hamath  and  was  en  route 
for  Nablus,  and  not  long  after  died  in  London  when  on  his  way 
to  America.  His  death  was  a  distinct  loss  to  the  cause  of  Biblical 
literature. 

During  the  summer  I  preached  regularly  in  the  little  chapel  in 
Aleih  in  Arabic,  as  has  been  my  wont  for  twenty-one  years. 
The  boys  and  girls  of  the  day-school  sit  on  the  wall  benches,  and 
the  body  of  the  room  is  filled  with  summer  residents  from  the 
plain  and  from  Egypt  and  fellahin  from  the  villages.  Arabic 
preaching  is  my  delight.  It  does  a  preacher  good  to  have  a  good 
proportion  of  his  audience  young  people  and  children. 

It  keeps  one's  language  simple  and  clear,  prevents  pedantry, 
and  compels  one  to  use  plain  figures  of  speech  and  homely 
illustrations  which  appeal  to  all. 

This  summer  I  received  a  copy  of  a  remarkable  book,  an 
Arabic  metrical  translation  of  Homer's  "  Iliad,"  a  work  of  i,2CX) 
pages,  with  an  introduction  of  200  pages  on  Homer,  the  "  Iliad," 
and  a  comparison  between  Greek  and  Arabic  poetry.  The  trans- 
lator is  Soleyman  Effendi  Bistany,  of  the  famous  Lebanon  family 
ofBistany.  It  is  a  colossal  undertaking.  The  introductory  essay 
on  Arabic  poetry  is  worth  the  price  of  the  volume.  The  author 
used  the  original  Greek  and  the  English  and  the  French  translations 
of  the  <'  Iliad,"  and  the  marginal  notes  and  explanations  are  full  and 
complete,  showing  remarkable  learning  and  research.     The  book 


The  "  Iliad  "  in  Arabic  747 

was  printed  in  Cairo  at  the  author's  expense,  and  should  be  in 
the  library  of  every  college  and  university.  I  know  of  no  work 
in  Arabic  which  shows  greater  scholarship  and  genius.  To 
translate  foreign  poetry  into  prose  in  our  own  language  is  prac- 
ticable, but  to  render  it  into  poetry  is  a  work  which  only  a  Pope, 
Cowper,  Derby,  or  Bryant  could  undertake.^ 

One  night  in  July,  Dr.  George  E.  Post,  the  famous  surgeon, 
author,  and  professor  in  the  Syrian  Protestant  College,  was  riding 
up  from  Beirut,  when  suddenly  near  Jemhour  a  railway  train 
passed  and  the  headlight  and  noise  of  the  engine  frightened  his 
horse,  which  sprang  backward  off  a  high  bank,  falling  partly  on 
the  doctor,  breaking  his  wrist  and  gashing  his  head.  The  hair- 
breadth escapes  of  the  foreign  doctors  in  Syria,  in  travelling  by 
night  in  storms  and  darkness  over  rocky  defiles,  and  through 
thickets  and  quicksands,  would  fill  a  volume.  i 

Third  Brummana  Conference  of  Christian  Workers 

(1904) 

This  third  conference  was  held  as  before  in  the  beautiful  grounds 
of  the  Friends'  Mission  at  Brummana,  Mount  Lebanon.  No 
speaker  from  abroad  could  be  secured,  and  the  conference  was 
entirely  conducted  by  missionaries  from  the  Turkish  Empire. 
The  Rev.  Geo.  M.  Mackie  prepared  the  programme,  on  the  sub- 
ject :  "  The  Missionary  Gospel  and  the  Missionary ;  The  Mes- 
sage and  the  Messenger,  and  the  things  that  affect  his  daily  life 
and  service  for  the  Master." 

No  less  than  thirty-two  brief  papers  were  read,  after  each  of 
which  there  was  free  discussion — and  devotional  and  praise  meet- 
ings were  held  at  sunrise  and  sunset  daily.  Two  hundred  dele- 
gates were  present,  of  whom  ninety  were  British,  fifty-eight 
Americans,  thirty-seven  Syrians,  six  Germans,  three  Danes,  three 
Swedes,  two  Armenians,  and  one  Hindu. 

Eighteen   Christian    denominations,    representing    twenty-six 

*The  author  is  (in  1909)  one  of  the  Beirut  members  of  the  Ottoman 
Parliament. 


748  My  Latest  Furlough 

societies,  were  present.  Again  all  felt  that  the  spiritual  benefits 
of  such  a  gathering  far  more  than  compensated  for  the  trouble 
and  expense  incurred. 

On  leaving  Brummana,  we  saw  below  us  in  the  harbour  off 
Beirut  thirty  British  ships  of  war,  and  the  thunder  of  their  salutes 
August  9th,  on  King  Edward's  coronation  day,  when  each  ship 
fired  twenty-one  guns,  echoed  and  reechoed  through  the  moun- 
tain ranges  of  Lebanon.  Hundreds  of  mountaineers  thronged 
Beirut,  and  went  on  board  at  certain  appointed  hours. 

The  visits  of  these  fleets  always  impress  the  Syrian  populace. 
The  spectacle  at  night  (August  9th),  when  the  ships  were  deco- 
rated with  thousands  of  electric  lights  and  the  search-lights 
illuminated  the  mountain  villages  ten  miles  away,  was  one  of 
great  magnificence.  England  thus  maintains  and  asserts  her 
naval  supremacy  in  the  Mediterranean.  She  holds  Gibraltar, 
Malta,  Cyprus,  and  Egypt,  and  will  never  surrender  her  control 
of  the  Suez  Canal,  the  highway  to  India,  Australasia,  and  China. 

If  this  empire  suffers  dismemberment,  the  arbiters  will  be  the 
nations  who  control  the  sea. 

The  visits  of  the  European  and  American  fleets  make  a  deep 
impression  upon  both  Turkish  officials  and  the  native  people. 
The  braggart,  fanatical  Moslem  roughs  hide  their  heads  for  a 
time  and  officials  feel  encouraged  to  keep  order  and  give  no  oc- 
casion for  foreign  interference  or  occupation. 

Can  anything  be  more  beautiful  than  the  love  of  a  little  child? 
I  have  always  loved  children,  but  the  artless  love  of  my  grand- 
children is  something  precious  beyond  gold  and  rubies.  A  little 
grandson,  two  and  a  half  years  old,  said  to  me,  "  Grandpa,  I  love 
you."  His  childish  utterances  are  curious  enough.  One  day  his 
father  led  him  out  to  the  garden  and  called  his  attention  to  a 
vulture  flying  overhead.     He  looked,  but  it  had  passed.     Then 

his  father  called,  "  F ,  see  that  huge  bird  !  "     He  looked,  but 

the  bird  had  disappeared  behind  the  oak  trees,  and  he  began  to 
think  his  father  was  joking.  In  a  few  moments  he  ran  off  some 
distance  in  the  vineyard  and  called,  "  Come,  papa,  come  see  I  '* 


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The  Lebanon  Rhinoceros  749 

His  father  ran,  and  the  child  pointed  down  between  his  feet,  and 
said,  "  See  !  "  "  What  ?  "  said  his  father.  "  A  rhinoceros  !  "  an- 
swered the  lad  and  burst  into  laughter. 

The  Zahleh  and  Lebanon  Presbytery  met  in  Zahleh  September 
6th,  and  about  twenty  members  were  in  attendance.  The  prog- 
ress made  by  these  organizations  composed  of  Syrian  pastors  and 
elders  and  American  missionaries  is  encouraging  and  hopeful  for 
the  future.  We  foreigners  are  corresponding  members,  and 
business  is  transacted  in  good  order  and  harmony,  giving  promise 
of  the  time  when  the  evangelical  church  of  Syria  shall  become 
self-supporting  and  self-propagating.  What  form  of  polity  will 
be  eventually  adopted  by  these  churches  is  a  secondary  matter. 
As  long  as  they  are  dependent  on  foreign  funds  they  will  natu- 
rally submit  to  foreign  advice,  but  when  they  walk  alone  and  sup- 
port their  own  pastors  and  schools,  they  will  be  at  liberty  to 
select  that  form  of  church  government  which  suits  their  tastes  and 
preference. 

In  1901,  a  Shechemite  swindler  of  the  first  water,  named 
Kerreh,  a  native  of  Nablus,  went  to  England  to  raise  money  for 
his  leper  asylum  at  Tirzah,  near  Nablus,  He  represented  in 
his  long  printed  programme  that  he  had  a  leper  asylum  with 
1,100  patients,  extensive  buildings,  staff,  plant,  grounds,  etc,  and 
he  wanted  to  raise  ;^io  a  head  for  each  of  his  1,100.  He  deceived 
a  few  persons,  when  his  fraud  was  detected,  and  he  was  arrested. 
The  English  judge  sent  a  commissioner,  Mr.  Francis  C.  Brading, 
then  travelling  in  Syria,  to  investigate.  He  found  at  Tirzah  an 
abject  village,  but  no  leper,  no  asylum,  and  nothing  had  ever 
been  heard  there  of  Kerreh  and  his  swindling  scheme.  He  was 
then  convicted  and  sent  to  prison.  After  serving  out  his  time, 
he  crossed  the  sea  and  applied  to  Mr.  H.  H.  Hall,  of  Orange, 
N.  Y.,  for  aid  for  his  1,100  lepers.  Mr.  Hall  wisely  inquired 
through  a  friend,  whose  son  was  in  Syria,  and  obtained  the  above 
facts.  The  man  was  then  headed  off,  but  he  will  no  doubt  palm 
off  his  monstrous  swindle  in  other  parts  of  America  where  he 
has  not  been  exposed. 


750  My  Latest  Furlough 

The  gullibility  of  good  people  is  amazing.  If  all  who  are 
asked  to  help  such  wildcat  schemes  would  demand  credentials 
and  certificates  from  responsible  persons,  they  would  not  throw 
away  their  money. 

On  returning  home,  September  loth,  we  were  shocked  by  the 
cold-blooded  and  unprovoked  murder  of  a  beloved  and  talented 
young  man  of  Suk  el  Gharb,  a  student  in  the  college  and  a  mem- 
ber of  a  prominent  Protestant  family  in  this  part  of  Lebanon. 
He  was  stabbed  to  death  just  at  sunset  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
of  his  home  by  two  Druse  miscreants.  The  funeral  the  next  day 
was  largely  attended  and  the  mudir  was  present  with  his  soldiers 
to  prevent  disturbance,  as  some  of  the  less  educated  relatives  of 
the  deceased  were  ready  to  revenge  his  death  on  any  Druse  who 
should  appear  in  the  village.  We  conducted  the  funeral  services 
at  the  house  in  the  open  air,  as  a  noisy  crowd  of  distant  relatives 
and  outsiders  declared  that,  according  to  their  traditional  customs, 
to  consent  to  have  the  funeral  in  the  church  would  be  to  admit 
that  they  had  no  further  claim  for  the  punishment  of  the  mur- 
derers. The  father  said  he  would  prefer  to  have  it  in  the  church 
but  the  crowd  overruled  him. 

The  self-control  of  the  father,  the  brothers,  and  sister  in  that 
tumultuous  wailing  and  shrieking  crowd,  was  a  beautiful  testi- 
mony to  the  sustaining  power  of  Christian  faith.  Two  years 
passed  and  no  punishment  had  been  inflicted  on  the  assassins, 
though  legally  convicted  of  murder  in  the  first  degree. 

September  27th  Mrs.  Gerald  F.  Dale,  for  twenty-five  years 
connected  with  the  mission,  tendered  her  resignation  to  take  the 
superintendence  of  the  new  Maria  Dewitt  Jesup  hospital  for 
women  and  children  and  the  training-school  for  nurses.  The 
mission  only  acceded  to  this  request  on  the  ground  that  the  truly 
benevolent  and  self-denying  work  which  she  was  about  to  under- 
take was  in  every  sense  a  missionary  work  and  an  important 
branch  of  the  great  work  being  done  for  the  benefit  of  the  Syrian 
people. 


Resigning  American  Citizenship  751 

On  the  14th  of  October  the  people  of  Lebanan  saw  a  brilliant 
meteoric  shower  which  lasted  not  less  than  fifteen  minutes, 

October  31st  word  was  received  that  the  model  of  the  Syrian 
Protestant  College  had  received  a  gold  medal  at  the  St.  Louis 
Exposition.  It  was  deposited  in  the  college.  I  afterwards  heard 
that  the  medal  was  voted,  but,  with  many  others,  might  be  given 
only  on  paper.     When  it  came  it  proved  to  be  bronze. 

In  November,  United  States  Consul  Ravendal  received  a  letter 
from  Vice-Consul  Shumacher  of  Haifa,  well  known  as  an  explorer 
and  archaeologist,  resigning  his  office  and  also  stating  that  he  had 
given  up  his  American  citizenship  and  become  a  German  subject, 
for  the  reason  that,  as  an  American,  he  could  get  no  rights  and 
secure  no  concessions  for  archaeological  excavation  and  explora- 
tion, whereas  a  German  subject  can  get  any  concession  that  is 
desired.  Dr.  Shumacher's  statement  is  no  doubt  true.  The 
German  emperor,  for  reasons  too  palpable  to  need  explanation, 
has  become  the  backer  and  friend  of  the  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid  II. 
German  railway  concessions  are  necessary  to  promote  German 
commerce,  and  for  these  benefits  the  Emperor  William  will  stand 
by  the  Sultan,  who,  as  a  matter  of  wisdom,  will  grant  the  emperor 
and  his  subjects  privileges  allowed  to  none  others.  As  Mr.  Shu- 
macher has  large  experience  in  Palestine  exploration,  and  is  a 
permanent  resident  in  Haifa,  he  naturally  prefers  the  government 
which  can  most  successfully  promote  his  interests. 

December  27th — To-day  the  contract  was  signed  for  the  pur- 
chase of  the  so-called  Misk  property  adjoining  the  American 
Mission  premises  in  Beirut.  For  sixteen  years  we  had  been  try- 
ing to  secure  this  valuable  property,  the  funds  for  which  had  been 
given  by  the  late  Col.  Elliot  F.  Shepard  of  New  York.  The 
Arabic  proverb  "  man  sabar  zafar,"  "  who  waits  wins,"  was  proved 
true  in  this  case.  Colonel  Shepard  gave  the  fund  to  buy  the 
property  and  it  was  carefully  invested  in  America.  He  author- 
ized the  use  of  the  interest  for  supplying  a  residence  for  the  native 


7_5'2  My  Latest  Furlough 

Syrian  pastor,  and  aiding,  when  needed,  in  his  support,  until  the 
purchase  should  be  effected.  On  completing  the  purchase,  which 
was  done  by  Dr.  Hoskins,  after  meeting  with  the  various  depart- 
ments and  officials  of  the  local  courts  for  three  months,  the  work 
of  demolition  and  reconstruction  was  commenced,  and  the  mis- 
sion premises  converted  into  a  convenient  campus,  containing  the 
church,  press,  Sunday-school  hall,  theological  school,  manse, 
girls'  boarding-school,  and  cemetery,  with  two  mission  residences 
(the  Pharaun  and  Kekano  houses)  and  open  spaces  covered  with 
shade  trees  and  orange  and  lemon  orchards. 

This  valuable  property  belongs  to  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions.  The  Kekano  house  was  purchased  in  1889 
with  funds  given  chiefly  by  Morris  K.  Jesup,  Esq.,  John  Stewart 
Kennedy,  and  Robert  Lenox  Kennedy.  The  Pharaun  house  was 
bought  with  a  portion  of  the  theological  seminary  funds  in  the 
hands  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

The  year  has  been  one  of  steady  progress.  The  1 1 1  schools 
have  instructed  6,353  pupils.  The  college  has  had  750  students, 
more  than  ever  before,  and  its  corps  of  instructors  numbers  sixty- 
two.  One  hundred  and  forty-three  were  added  to  the  churches 
on  profession  of  faith  and  the  congregations  average  5.534- 

The  press  printed  34,577,543  pages,  of  which  24,727,000  were 
Arabic  Scriptures  for  the  American  Bible  Society.  The  total 
number  of  pages  printed  since  1834  has  been  760,089,034. 


XXIX 

Jubilee  Times  (i 905-1 907) 

THE  year  1905  was  memorable  as  the  banner  year  for 
Bible  printing  in  the  history  of  the  American  Press. 
Nearly  sixty  millions  of  pages  were  printed,  of  which 
47,275,000  were  for  the  American  Bible  Society.  The  number 
of  copies  of  the  Scriptures  issued  during  the  year  was  158,000,  a 
larger  number  than  ever  before. 

The  demand  for  Arabic  Scriptures  from  Egypt  was  unprece- 
dented. Our  workmen  put  in  extra  time,  and  paper  and  binding 
materials  had  to  be  ordered  in  large  quantities  from  Europe  to 
meet  the  demand.  A  new  printing  machine  had  just  been  added 
to  our  plant  to  increase  our  facilities  for  Bible  work.  Just  at  this 
juncture  the  old  steam  engine  gave  signs  of  failing,  and  to  avoid 
the  catastrophe  of  having  all  our  presses  stopped,  I  wrote  to  Mr. 
Marcellus  Hartley  Dodge  of  New  York,  son  of  my  old  friend, 
Norman  White  Dodge,  and  he,  with  a  promptness  which  filled 
our  whole  mission  with  a  thrill  of  gratitude,  replied  by  sending 
out  a  magnificent  thirty  horse-power  Fairbanks  Morse  oil  engine. 
The  iron  castings  and  balance-wheel  of  this  splendid  engine  were 
so  massive  that  Mr.  Freyer  had  to  hire  the  steam  derrick  of  the 
Harbor  Company  to  lift  them  to  the  wharf  and  from  the  wharf  to 
the  truck.  And  when  they  reached  the  churchyard  adjoining 
the  press,  it  required  many  men  and  many  days'  work  to  remove 
them  to  the  engine  house  of  the  press. 

In  May  a  conference  of  Christian  workers  was  held  in  Constan- 
tinople and  we  were  all  invited  to  be  present,  but  owing  to  the 
May  meeting  of  our  mission  coming  at  the  same  time,  we  had  to 
decline.  But  at  the  request  of  Dr.  J.  K.  Greene,  I  wrote  a  few 
words  on  "  Hindrances  to  the  Christian  Life  Among  Mission- 
aries." 

753 


754  Jubilee  Times 

1.  We  are  apt  to  feel  that  we  have  already  attained.  Deem- 
ing that  we  are  in  a  higher  spiritual  plane  than  those  around  us, 
we  compare  ourselves  with  others  and  are  led  to  self-satisfaction 
and  indolence. 

2.  Officialism.  Because  we  are  preachers  and  teachers,  we 
are  in  danger  of  thinking  that  we  need  only  to  give  out,  and  not 
to  take  in. 

3.  Extreme  liberalism.  Inclining  us  to  believe  that  the  life- 
less systems  around  us  are  good  enough,  and  that  we  need  not 
seek  the  conversion  of  their  adherents.  This  blunts  the  edge  of 
zeal  and  lessens  the  value  of  experimental  religion.  I  yield  to 
none  in  broad  sympathy  for  those  brought  up  in  the  non-Christian 
and  semi-Christian  faiths,  but  unless  we  have  something  that  they 
have  not,  and  unless  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  Saviour  of  sinners, 
we  have  absolutely  no  vocation  in  Western  Asia  and  European 
Turkey. 

4.  Yielding  to  the  spiritual  stagnation  round  us. 

5.  Neglect  of  personal  rehgious  duties. 
As  to  the  remedy,  I  can  only  suggest: 

1.  Constant  personal  use  of  the  "  Word  of  God." 

2.  Personal  work  for  the  salvation  of  others. 

3.  Never  forgetting  that  "  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth 
from  all  sin."  "  And  in  none  other  is  there  salvation  ;  for  neither 
is  there  any  other  name  under  heaven  that  is  given  among  men, 
wherein  we  must  be  saved  "  (Acts  4  :  12), 

This  conference  was  conducted  by  Rev.  John  McNeil  of  London 
and  was  an  inspiring  and  uplifting  occasion. 

It  is,  alas,  too  often  true,  that  we  who  are  labouring  in  heathen 
and  Mohammedan  lands  and  are  regarded  by  many  as  the  most 
spiritual  of  all  Christian  workers  feel  our  need  of  those  special  oc- 
casions for  the  promotion  of  the  spiritual  life  which  are  so  com- 
mon in  Christian  lands,  in  Keswick,  Northfield,  Chautauqua,  Wi- 
nona, and  the  Northwest.  We  have  many  benumbing  and 
paralyzing  influences  to  contend  with.  Familiarity  with  a  Mos- 
lem population  makes  us  forget  their  spiritual  deadness.  We  see 
§p  many  forms,  rites,  ceremonies,  and  pilgrimages  and  so  much 


Keeping  Spiritually  Alive  755 

virtue  attached  to  mere  outward  works,  that  we  need  to  live  in 
a  Bible  atmosphere  and  in  a  spirit  of  constant  prayer  to  keep  our 
garments  white  and  our  faith  bright  and  clear.  We  need  to  draw 
our  theology  from  the  Bible  and  not  from  mere  reason  and  hy- 
pothesis. Mere  ethics  will  save  nobody.  "  If  righteousness  is 
through  the  law  then  Christ  died  for  nought  "  (Gal.  2:21).  Christ 
is  an  example — our  brightest,  best,  and  perfect  example,  but  He  is 
more.  He  is  a  Saviour,  a  Redeemer  from  sin,  its  power,  and 
penalty.  His  blood  was  "  shed  for  many  for  the  remission  of 
sins." 

There  has  been  a  powerful  work  of  grace  in  St.  Paul's  Institute, 
Tarsus,  and  a  number  of  conversions  recently  in  Gerard  Institute, 
Sidon.  Six  young  girls  in  the  British  Syrian  Institute  in  Beirut 
were  received  into  the  church. 

In  March  Rev.  Drs.  Stewart  and  Lowe  of  the  Irish  Presby- 
terian Jewish  Missions  Committee  visited  their  Damascus  Mission 
and  on  their  return  proposed  to  transfer  their  two  Mount  Hermon 
stations,  Rasheiyat  el  Wady  and  Ain  esh  Shaara,  to  our  mission, 
if  their  General  Assembly  should  approve.  It  did  approve,  and 
in  the  fall  Rev.  W.  K.  Eddy  of  Sidon  was  instructed  to  take 
measures  to  assume  the  work  at  those  stations,  but  the  expense, 
about  ^^700  a  year,  for  which  our  Board  felt  unable  to  provide, 
delayed  the  full  support  of  the  work  there.  Had  these  little  Prot- 
estant communities  the  spirit  of  the  Korean  converts  they  would 
carry  on  the  work  without  foreign  aid. 

During  the  summer  I  visited  Suk,  Abeih,  Zahleh,  and  Baalbec, 
preaching  in  Arabic  in  these  places  and  when  at  home  in  our 
own  summer  cottage  in  Aleih,  I  always  preached  in  Arabic.  I 
had  planned  going  from  Baalbec  to  Hums  with  my  brother 
Samuel  September  9th,  but  was  prevented  by  illness.  He  went 
alone  by  the  Aleppo  Railroad  leaving  Baalbec  Saturday  at  2  p.  m., 
and  enjoyed  meeting  that  interesting  church  and  preaching  once 
more  to  the  people.  They  have  shown  great  energy  in  opening 
a  boys'  boarding-school  at  their  own  expense  but  have  not  yet 
fulfilled  the  more  important  duty  of  supporting  their  own  pastor. 

While   in    Zahleh  vye   drove   down    to    the  plain  to  visit  the 


7^6  Jubilee  Times 

famous  Jesuit  farm  of  Taanaille.  It  is  on  the  Damascus  Road  and 
covers  about  half  a  mile  square,  on  rich  land,  through  which  runs 
a  splendid  stream  of  water  from  the  Jedetha  fountain.  It  is  a 
model  French  farm,  with  wheat  fields,  clover  pasturage,  shaded 
walks  and  drives,  and  fine  orchards  of  European  fruits,  and  vege- 
table and  flower  gardens.  The  father  superintendent  who  spoke 
English  perfectly  was  most  courteous  and  showed  us  all  the  de- 
partments. An  immense  American  threshing-machine  was  just 
being  brought  in,  having  been  imported  and  transported  over  to 
Anjar,  four  miles  to  the  east,  for  Tahir  Pasha  of  Damascus,  who 
refused  to  accept  it  and  pending  a  lawsuit  to  compel  him  to  ful- 
fill his  contract,  it  was  being  stored  by  the  French  Jesuit 
"  fathers." 

This  French  farm  looks  more  like  Europe  and  America  than 
anything  I  have  seen  in  Syria.  It  shows  what  might  be  done 
everywhere  with  proper  care  and  cultivation. 

In  June  we  sent  to  New  York  by  order  of  the  American  Tract 
Society  ^325  worth  of  Arabic  books  and  tracts  to  be  distributed 
by  the  American  Tract  Society  among  Syrian  immigrants  land- 
ing in  New  York.  We  have  frequently  supplied  outgoing 
emigrants  from  Syria  with  Arabic  Scriptures  and  they  have  al- 
most without  exception  received  them  with  gratitude.  Many  of 
these  Arab  emigrants  will  become  American  citizens,  and  it  is  a 
remarkable  providence  that  the  American  Press  and  schools  in 
Syria  have  been  used  to  fit  men  and  women  to  become  Ameri- 
can citizens.  It  is  well  to. sow  good  seed  abroad.  Who  knows 
when  the  fruit  will  come  back  to  be  a  blessing  to  the  sowers ! 
The  best  Syrian  emigrants  to  America  are  those  who  have  been 
trained  in  the  American  Mission  schools.  Westward  the  Star  of 
Syria  takes  its  way  ! 

^       In    October   we   were   favoured  with    a  visit   from   Rev.  Dr. 

H  Howard  Agnew  Johnston,  wife  and  daughter.  An  itinerary  had 
been  prepared  and  he  was  able  to  visit  all  our  principal  stations, 
speaking  everywhere  words  stimulating  and  inspiring  on  the  sub- 
ject of  "  individual  work  for  individuals,"  He  spoke  in  the  Beirut 
College  and  to  the  young  people  in  the  city,  and  gave  an  hour  to 


Howard  Agnew  Johnston  757 

the  theological  class.  The  unity  of  his  theme,  his  great  experi- 
ence in  personal  religious  work  and  his  sententious  summing  up 
of  Christian  duty,  as  "  not  merely  to  be  fed,  but  to  feed,  not 
merely  to  be  led  but  to  lead,  not  simply  to  be  saved  but  to  save 
others,"  gave  his  addresses  great  power. 

He  spoke  to  the  theological  class  of  the  value  of  an  individual 
acquaintance  with  the  contents  and  teaching  of  each  book  of  the 
Bible.  I  remarked  that  one  of  the  three  native  brethren  who  had 
been  ordained  the  evening  before  had  a  wonderful  knowledge  of 
the  Bible.  Dr.  Johnston  then  asked  the  class  to  give  him  the 
contents  of  John,  chapter  six.  Just  then  M,  Michaiel,  the  per- 
son I  had  quoted,  entered  the  room.  Hearing  Dr.  Johnston's 
request,  he  quietly  arose  and  gave  a  complete  synopsis  of  that 
chapter  to  the  minutest  detail.  It  was  an  object-lesson  to  the  class 
such  as  few  could  give.  Dr.  Johnston  spoke  fifteen  times  in 
Beirut,  besides  visiting  Zahleh,  Hums,  Tripoli,  Suk,  and  Sidon. 

The  ordination  of  three  tried  and  experienced  native  preachers. 
Rev.  Beshara  Barudi,  Rev.  Michaiel  Ibrahim,  and  Rev.  Yusef 
Jerjer,  took  place  October  24th,  while  Dr.  Johnston  was  here,  and 
the  hands  of  seventeen  ministers,  American,  Scotch,  and  Syrian, 
were  laid  on  their  heads. 

On  the  31st  of  October  I  sat  by  the  dying  bed  of  a  lovely 
young  Protestant,  Amin  Tabet,  who  died  in  the  prison  ward  of 
the  municipal  hospital  of  Beirut.  He  had  been  to  America  to 
visit  his  father  and  returned  a  short  time  before,  dangerously  ill. 
The  custom-house  detective  in  examining  his  baggage  found  a 
book  in  which  was  a  picture  of  the  Sultan  and  written  under  it 
the  word  "  dog."  The  young  man,  a  very  model  of  integrity 
and  uprightness,  stated  that  he  knew  nothing  of  the  book,  that 
some  friends  had  put  a  lot  of  books  and  papers  in  his  trunk  for 
him  to  read  on  the  voyage  but  he  had  been  too  ill  to  look  at 
them  and  that  he  could  never  have  been  foolish  enough  to  carry 
such  a  book  had  he  known  of  it.  The  zealous  pohce,  anxious  to 
gain  favour  and  promotion,  telegraphed  their  discovery  to  Con- 
stantinople and  he  was  thrown  into  the  lowest  prison.  His  many 
Beirut  friends  interceded,  and  by  order  of  the  government  physi- 


yj'S  Jubilee  Times 

cian  he  was  removed  to  the  iron-grated  ward  in  the  hospital. 
But  it  was  vain  to  ask  for  his  release.  Even  when  the  physicians 
pronounced  him  a  dying  man,  his  mother  was  not  allowed  to  re- 
move him.  I  had  baptized  him  in  infancy,  and  found  him  ready 
to  depart  and  be  with  Christ,  and  in  that  Turkish  prison,  sur- 
rounded by  Moslem  attendants  and  patients,  I  commended  him 
to  Christ  as  his  Saviour.  He  soon  after  passed  away,  and  his 
emaciated  body  was  taken  to  his  mother's  house  where  the  fu- 
neral service  took  place,  attended  by  a  great  throng.  His  brothers, 
tutors  in  the  college,  were  comforted  by  a  large  delegation  of 
students  bearing  wreaths  and  flowers. 

The  leading  authorities  declared  their  conviction  that  he  was 
innocent  and  had  been  victimized  by  some  designing  person,  but 
not  one  of  the  officials  ventured  to  utter  openly  a  word  in  his 
favour,  lest  they  be  reported  to  headquarters.  Would  that  this 
were  the  only  case  of  the  kind  !  He  was  a  victim  of  the  cruel 
despotic  rule  of  Abdul  Hamid  and  Izzet  Pasha. 

On  the  1 8th  of  December  I  acknowledged  Dr.  A.  J.  Brown's 
letter  speaking  of  the  approaching  jubilee  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Bliss 
and  myself.  I  replied  in  part  as  follows  :  "  I  should  prefer  that 
no  special  notice  be  taken  of  one  of  the  Lord's  servants  having 
been  permitted  to  keep  at  work  for  fifty  years.  I  ought  to  be 
grateful.  It  has  always  been  my  principle  that  the  missionary 
work  is  a  life  enlistment,  and  I  am  more  than  ever  convinced  that 
it  is  a^true  one.  No  one  can  be  more  grateful  than  I  am  for  the 
blessed  privilege  of  being  able  to  hold  on." 

During  December  the  annual  meeting  of  our  mission  was 
held.  It  was  a  hopeful,  inspiring  season.  We  had  printed  more 
pages  of  the  Arabic  Scriptures  and  taught  in  our  schools  more 
children  and  youth  than  ever  before,  when  Dr.  Bowen,  agent  of  the 
American  Bible  Society,  wrote  from  Constantinople  ordering  Mr. 
Freyer  to  countermand  a  big  order  for  paper  and  cut  down  at 
once  all  expenditure  on  account  of  the  Bible  Society.  We  were 
taken  aback,  like  a  ship  under  full  sail,  with  the  wind  suddenly 
veering  from  stern  to  stem  and  forcing  the  sails  back  against  the 
masts.     The  appropriation,  under  financial  stress  and  distress  at 


They  Shall  Still  Bring  Forth  Fruit  759 

the  Bible  House,  New  York,  was  cut  down  to  a  destructive  figure. 
I  was  stirred  so  deeply  that  when  our  mission  met,  December 
7th,  I  offered  to  write  the  annual  letter  to  the  Bible  Society. 
This  offer  was  met  with  applause,  as  a  welcome  innovation. 
The  office  of  writing  the  annual  letters  to  the  Bible  and  Tract 
and  other  societies  is  never  sought  for,  as  it  involves  no  little  out- 
lay of  time  and  labour.  The  letter  was  written  under  a  sense  of 
being  divinely  moved,  such  as  I  have  not  often  felt.  It  was  sent 
and  scattered  abroad  through  a  hundred  newspapers  and  some 
months  after,  Dr.  Bowen  writes,  <*  That  letter  brought  into  the 
treasury  of  the  Society  not  less  than  ;$  150,000.  One  donor  gave 
a  piece  of  property  which  will  give  ;$7,S00  annually  for  Bible 
work  in  Mohammedan  lands."  I  can  see  now  that  the  prompt- 
ing to  write  that  letter  came  from  above,  and  all  the  praise  be- 
longs to  the  Lord  of  the  Bible  who  is  the  God  of  missions. 

It  did  seem  strange  that  just  as  the  door  is  opening  in  Moslem 
lands  for  the  Arabic  Bible,  and  the  machinery  is  ready  to  print 
and  publish  it,  we  should  be  obliged  to  say  to  Asia  and  Africa, 
"  No,  America  is  too  poor.  You  must  wait  still  longer  for  the 
Bread  of  Life.  The  Beirut  Press  stands  committed  before  the 
Christian  world  to  supply  the  demand  for  Arabic  Scriptures,  and 
in  Bible  work  this  press  is  the  agent  and  servant  of  the  American 
Bible  Society."  We  have  been  saying  to  Syria,  Palestine,  Egypt, 
and  Arabia,  Tunis  and  Algiers,  Mesopotamia,  and  Bussorah, 
"  Call,  and  we  will  answer ;  call  for  the  Scriptures  and  we  will 
supply  them." 

And  now  are  we  to  say  to  these  missionaries  :  "  You  will  have 
to  wait.  Tell  the  Moslems,  just  beginning  to  ask  for  God's 
word,  that  they  cannot  have  it; — that  the  great  Church  of  America 
has  too  much  to  do  to  think  of  60,000,000  of  Arabic-speaking 
people,  and  140,000,000  more  of  Moslems  whose  Koran  is 
Arabic  "  ? 

Will  the  Christian  Church  give  the  ^^9,000  a  year  needed  to 
keep  up  the  Bible  work  and  manufacture  to  an  extent  sufficient 
for  the  demand  ? 

Shall    foreign  missionaries  from   England,  Scotland,  Ireland, 


760  Jubilee  Times 

Germany,  Holland,  Switzerland,  and  Scandinavia,  who  have  de- 
pended upon  us  for  their  Arabic  Scriptures,  be  obliged  to  write 
to  their  home  societies  that  the  American  Bible  Press  in  Beirut, 
which  holds  the  key  to  the  Arabic  Bible,  has  finally  admitted  its 
inability  to  supply  the  increasing  demands  upon  it? 

We  call  upon  the  Bible-loving  Church  of  Christ  to  come  to 
your  aid  and  ours. 

In  November  Rev.  James  H.  Nicol  and  wife  arrived  from 
America  for  the  Tripoli  station.  Early  in  the  year,  January  2, 
1906,  Dr.  Mary  Pierson  Eddy  and  Miss  Caroline  M.  Holmes 
arrived  from  America,  the  former  to  resume  her  medical  work, 
and  the  latter  to  labour  in  the  same  region,  on  the  coast  north  of 
Beirut.  Miss  Holmes  was  for  ten  years  connected  with  the 
Tripoli  Girls'  Boarding-School  (from  1883  to  1887  and  from  1888 
to  1894),  and  had  been  absent  from  Syria  eleven  years.  She  now 
returned  under  the  auspices  of  a  number  of  American  friends 
who  pledged  her  support  for  a  term  of  years.  After  working 
with  Dr.  Mary  P.  Eddy  in  M'aamiltein  for  some  months,  she  re- 
moved to  Jebail  (the  Gebal  of  the  Bible),  half-way  between  Beirut 
and  TripoH,  and  has  succeeded  in  overcoming  prejudice  until  she 
has  a  school  of  seventy-five  girls.  She  has  begun  work  as  a 
pioneer  in  one  of  the  most  bigoted  regions  in  Syria. 

I  cannot  but  admire  the  pluck  and  courage  of  these  two  Chris- 
tian women.  The  Board  supports  Dr.  Mary  P.  Eddy.  Miss 
Holmes  with  her  fine  knowledge  of  Arabic,  her  splendid  capacity 
for  organization,  and  devoted  spirit  should  have  abundant  sup- 
port. 

In  November  Rev.  Paul  Erdman,  Mrs.  Gertrude  Erdman,  and 
son  Frederick  arrived  from  America  to  take  up  their  residence  in 
Tripoli. 

In  October  Sheikh  Nebhany,  Kadi  of  Beirut,  issued  a  pamphlet, 
attacking  Christian  schools  and  all  Moslems  who  patronize  them. 
His  language  was  bitter  and  coarse,  full  of  invective  and  rant, 
and  to  the  astonishment  of  the  public  it  had  the  sanction  of  the 
Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  in  Constantinople.  The  better 
class  of  Moslems  repudiated  the  book  and  denounced  the  author. 


My  Fiftieth  Anniversary  761 

Several  learned  sheikhs  of  Beirut,  Damascus  and  Cairo  pubHshed 
replies  to  his  book,  rebuking  him  severely  for  his  ignorance  of 
history  and  his  narrow  intolerance.  It  not  only  failed  to  compel 
Moslems  to  take  their  children  out  of  Christian  schools,  but  it 
resulted  in  a  large  increase  in  the  number  of  Moslem  students  in 
Christian  schools,  especially  in  the  Beirut  College.  This  result  is 
but  another  proof  of  the  growing  independence  among  intelHgent 
Moslems  of  their  fanatical  religious  leaders. 

The  jubilee  year,  my  fiftieth  in  Syria,  was  celebrated  by  many 
friends,  Syrian  and  foreign. 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Daniel  Bliss  and  I  arrived  in  Syria  February  7, 
1856,  and  on  and  before  February  7th  congratulatory  letters, 
cablegrams,  and  messages  came  in  upon  me  like  a  flood.  About 
sunrise  a  company  of  Syrian  girls  from  the  British  Syrian  Insti- 
tution came  quietly  in  and  sang  sweet  hymns  of  cheer.  Our 
house  was  decorated  with  white  almond  blossoms,  which  have 
been  for  fifty  years  a  reminder  of  the  day  of  our  landing  in  1856, 
when  the  almond  trees  were  in  bloom.  And  these  little  girls 
each  brought  a  spray  of  the  sweet  blossoms  and  gave  them  to  me 
as  a  floral  offering. 

At  half-past  nine  came  all  the  members  of  the  Syria  Mission, 
men  and  women,  and  made  addresses  which  quite  overcame  me 
with  their  expressions  of  fraternal  affection.  They  then  presented 
me  with  a  massive  cathedral  chiming  clock  in  a  case  of  polished 
English  oak  with  an  inscripton  on  a  gilt  brass  plate. 

Then  came  a  deputation  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  sect,  eight  in 
number,  each  of  whom  made  an  eloquent  Arabic  address,  in 
prose  or  poetry,  the  substance  of  which  is  too  personal  to  allow 
its  being  repeated  by  me.  The  most  of  them  and  their  families 
were  my  spiritual  children,  and  their  language,  though  full  of 
Oriental  hyperbole,  was  most  kind  and  sincere.  They  left  with 
me  as  souvenirs  elegant  specimens  of  silver  filigree  work  on  a  little 
inlaid  table  of  Damascene  work.  A  little  Syrian  boy  gave  me 
some  rare  specimens  of  Phoenician  iridescent  glass. 

At  one  o'clock  eighteen  of  our  kindred  and  those  of  Dr.  and 


762  Jubilee  Times 

Mrs.  Bliss  sat  down  to  dinner  together,  the  Httle  grandchildren 
being  at  a  side  table. 

At  3  p.  M.  we  were  taken  to  the  Gerald  F.  Dale  Memorial 
Sunday-School  Hall,  which  was  densely  packed  with  a  crowd  of 
people  who  were  awaiting  us.  This  was  a  complete  surprise. 
The  hall  was  decorated  with  flags,  evergreens,  and  flowers,  and 
prominent  among  them  the  almond  blossoms.  The  girls  of  our 
seminary  and  of  the  British  Syrian  Institution  were  dressed  in 
holiday  attire,  and  sang  as  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Bliss,  Mrs.  Jessup,  and 
myself  entered  the  hall.  There  was  a  full  musical  programme 
and  then  the  entire  assembly  of  five  hundred  came  up  to  take  us 
by  the  hand,  wishing  us  a  joyful  jubilee.  The  ladies  of  the  mis- 
sion then  presented  to  Mrs.  Jessup  a  pyramidal  frosted  loaf  of 
cake  which  she  cut,  and  Mrs.  Hoskins  and  her  sister,  Dr.  Mary 
Eddy,  gave  out  portions  to  missionary  friends. 

At  half-past  seven,  a  beautiful  moonlight  evening,  the  church 
was  crowded  for  the  memorial  jubilee  service.  Addresses  were 
made  in  Arabic  by  two  prominent  Protestant  Arabic  scholars, 
Messrs.  Selim  Kessab  and  Ibrahim  Haurani,  in  German  by  Pastor 
Fritz  Ulrich,  and  in  English  by  Dr.  George  E.  Post  and  Dr. 
George  A.  Ford,  the  latter  in  poetry.  Thus  closed  the  jubilee 
day — a  day  full  of  sacred  memories,  of  many  regrets  and  much 
thanksgiving  to  God. 

The  love  and  esteem  of  so  many  of  Christ's  children,  Ameri- 
can, Syrian,  and  European,  is  inexpressibly  precious.  May  every 
one  of  these  dear  friends  live  to  celebrate  their  own  jubilee  ! 

1906 — January  was  a  month  of  storms,  of  much  sickness,  and 
snoWo  The  Damascus  railway  was  repeatedly  blocked  with  snow, 
and  the  winter  rains  were  constant  with  frequent  electric  storms 
of  thunder  and  lightning.  Miss  Van  Zandt  of  the  Woman's  Hos- 
pital had  a  long  and  severe  illness  with  typhoid  fever.  Pneu- 
monia, pleurisy,  and  typhoid  fever  prevailed  throughout  the  land. 
My  son  William  wrote  from  Zahleh  of  icicles  ten  feet  long  and  a 
foot  thick. 

On  January  7th,  at  4  p.  m.,  Miss  Jessie  Taylor  entered  into 


Jessie  Taylor  and  Her  Work  763 

rest,  aged  seventy-nine,  after  forty  years  of  self-denying  labour 
for  the  Moslem  and  Druse  girls  and  women  of  Syria. 

Her  death  produced  wide-spread  and  unfeigned  sorrow  among 
the  multitudes  of  Moslem  women  and  girls  whom  she  had  in- 
structed and  befriended.  No  foreign  woman  ever  had  such  a 
hold  on  the  confidence  of  the  Moslems  of  Beirut,  and  this,  al- 
though she  was  a  fearless  witness  for  salvation  through  Christ 
alone.  Moslem  men  would  come  to  a  preaching  service  in  her 
house  when  nothing  would  have  induced  them  to  enter  a  Chris- 
tian church. 

Miss  Jessie  Taylor  was  "  one  called  of  God."  She  heeded  the 
call  and  came  to  this  land  alone,  and  began  her  work  among  the 
lowly  and  neglected.  I  well  remember  her  first  arrival  and  have 
followed  her  course  with  sympathy  and  prayer  ever  since.  Like 
good  Mr.  Cullen  in  Edinburgh,  she  belonged  to  all  the  churches 
and  all  Christian  people.  Her  home  was  a  house  of  prayer.  I 
know  of  no  house  in  Syria  where  prayer  seemed  more  natural 
and  appropriate,  and  certainly  there  was  no  house  where  Mos- 
lem, Druse,  and  Jew  and  Maronite  and  Protestant  felt  more  wel- 
come and  more  at  home. 

Without  an  effort  on  her  part,  and  by  the  simple  power  of  an 
unselfish,  sincere  and  blameless  life,  she  secured  and  held  the 
confidence  of  her  non-Christian  neighbours  to  an  extent  which 
was  remarkable. 

And  how  many  perils  escaped,  difficulties  overcome,  burdens 
lifted,  and  spiritual  fruits  gathered  as  a  direct  and  comforting  an- 
swer to  prayer  !  Here  was  the  source  of  her  strength,  which  kept 
up  that  frail  body  to  a  great  age ;  made  her  invariably  cheerful 
and  hopeful  ;  helped  her  to  look  always  on  the  bright  side, 
"  bright  as  the  promise  of  God,"  and  made  her  the  spiritual  guide 
to  the  new  life  in  Christ,  of  so  many  of  her  pupils. 

She  believed  in  conversion,  in  passing  from  death  into  life,  and 
the  regenerating  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

At  times  she  needed  great  courage  and  decision,  and  was  never 
left  to  lack  either  in  times  of  emergency. 

Her  solitary  journey  to  Scotland,  when  over  seventy  years  of 


764  Jubilee  Times 

age  in  order  to  save  her  old  mission  home  from  sale,  was  an  illus- 
tration of  her  simple  faith  and  unflagging  energy.  Her  friends 
in  Scotland,  when  appealed  to  personally,  said,  "  In  these  days 
of  Boer  War  and  financial  embarrassment  it  is  not  possible  to 
raise  ^1,100."  She  replied,  "  The  silver  and  the  gold  are  the 
Lord's  and  the  fund  must  be  raised,"  and  it  was  raised  and 
amounted  to  ^1,500,  sufficient  to  buy  the  house  and  make  all 
needed  repairs.  She  returned  to  Syria  looking  ten  years  younger, 
her  face  beaming  with  hope  and  energy,  and  resumed  her  work 
with  new  buoyancy  and  faith. 

And  she  had  impressed  those  qualities  upon  her  fellow  workers 
and  pupils,  and  we  believe  that  they  will  go  forward,  trustful  and 
hopeful  as  she  has  been.  She  called  her  school  "  St.  George's 
School  for  Moslem  and  Druse  Girls,"  but  the  Syrians  and  the 
foreign  community  know  it  and  speak  of  it  as  Miss  Taylor's 
school  and  there  can  be  no  comparison  between  the  solid  spir- 
itual work  done  by  her,  and  the  shadowy  exploits  of  the  mythical 
St.  George. 

March  7th  Beirut  was  honoured  by  a  visit  from  Admiral  Sigs- 
bee  of  the  American  Navy  with  the  ships  Brooklyn,  Galveston, 
and  Chattanooga.  Consul-General  Bergholz  gave  them  a  recep- 
tion which  was  attended  by  the  American  and  European  com- 
munities. It  has  been  my  experience  for  fifty  years  that  there  is 
no  finer  class  of  men  anywhere  than  the  officers  of  the  American 
Navy.  And  as  a  rule  they  fully  appreciate  the  educational  and 
elevating  work  done  by  their  missionary  fellow  countrymen. 
Much  depends  on  the  man,  whether  they  show  hearty  sympathy 
with  the  more  spiritual  aspect  of  our  work.  I  knew  a  naval  com- 
mander who  would  hold  prayer-meetings  with  the  men  in  the 
cockpit,  though  his  officers  held  aloof  and  scarcely  concealed 
their  disgust.  He  was  deeply  interested  in  the  evangelistic  work 
of  our  mission.  The  majority  of  naval  officers  respect  religion 
and  respect  manliness  and  manly  work,  but  they  generally  appre- 
ciate educational,  publishing,  and  what  is  called  civilizing  work 
more  than  the  purely  religious.  An  address  to  the  college  stu- 
dents by  an  American  admiral  is  always  impressive.     One  can 


Our  Fine  Naval  Officers  765 

hardly  conceive  of  such  an  address  by  a  Turkish  admiral.  Our 
government  does  well  to  give  its  citizens  abroad  an  occasional 
glimpse  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  I  notice  that  an  American 
congressman  has  given  notice  of  a  bill  to  deprive  of  the  rights  of 
citizenship  any  American  who  shall  reside  abroad  more  than  five 
years !  This  is  aimed  at  the  millionaires  who  reside  abroad  to 
evade  taxes.  But  think  of  the  blow  it  would  inflict  upon  the 
3,300  American  foreign  missionaries  who  have  gone  abroad  to 
stay  and  have  burned  their  ships  behind  them  !  It  is  inconceiv- 
able that  citizenship  should  be  wrested  from  such  a  body  of  men 
and  women  engaged  only  in  benevolent  and  unselfish  work ! 

And  it  was  not 

Rev.  Mr.  Franson,  a  Swedish  missionary  secretary,  who  had 
felt  a  call  to  visit  missions  in  foreign  lands,  after  visiting  the  mis- 
sions in  India,  Persia,  and  Eastern  and  Central  Turkey,  reached 
Beirut  and  spoke  March  25th  in  the  college,  and  at  the  Sunday- 
school  hall  to  a  large  concourse  of  people.  Preaching  through 
an  interpreter  (an  "  interrupter,"  as  it  has  been  called)  is  far  from 
satisfactory.  I  have  had  large  experience  in  translating  sermons 
and  addresses  into  Arabic  for  travellers,  and  find  that  the  only 
satisfactory  way  is  to  sit  quietly  behind  the  speaker  with  a  pad 
and  pencil  and  take  rapid  notes,  giving  the  speaker  freedom. 
Then  I  translate  the  notes  offhand  into  Arabic  and  the  people 
get  the  gist  of  it  without  a  break. 

On  the  4th  of  April,  1906,  was  held  in  Cairo  the  memorable 
conference  of  missionaries  to  Mohammedan  lands.  The  sessions 
were  held  in  the  Church  Missionary  Society's  buildings,  the 
former  home  of  Arabi  Pasha. 

The  attendance  was  large,  including  delegates  from  the  Turkish 
Empire,  Egypt,  Arabia,  Persia,  India,  the  East  Indies,  the  Sudan, 
and  North  and  West  Africa.  The  papers  read,  the  discussions 
held,  and  the  reports  made,  showed  a  striking  uniformity  of  ex- 
perience with  regard  to  the  difficulties,  the  encouragements  and 
the  magnitude  of  the  work.  There  was  no  note  of  retreat  or 
pessimism.     The  time  had  come  for  an  onward  movement  all 


766  Jubilee  Times 

along  the  line.  Thirty-two  thousand  converts  in  India  and  the 
East  Indies  were  regarded  as  but  the  first-fruits  of  a  great  gather- 
ing. It  was  agreed  that  we  owe  it  to  our  Moslem  brethren  to  ex- 
hibit the  true  nature  of  Christianity,  to  show  them  that  we  are 
their  friends,  to  disabuse  them  of  their  false  conceptions  of  the 
Trinity  and  the  Scriptures,  and  to  show  them  that  the  hostile 
and  cruel  spirit  shown  by  the  European  crusaders  and  by  modern 
Christian  nations  no  longer  exists.  That  we  only  ask  that  they 
read  the  Tourah  and  the  Ingeel  (the  Old  and  New  Testaments) 
and  judge  for  themselves.  And  we  ask  that  Christians  in  Mos- 
lem lands  enjoy  the  same  liberty  of  conscience  that  Moslems  en- 
joy in  Christian  lands.  We  were  agreed  to  appeal  to  all  Chris- 
tian people  to  pray  for  our  Mohammedan  friends,  and  to  send 
forth  labourers  into  the  vast  fields  occupied  by  two  hundred  mil- 
lions of  Mohammedans. 

Some  timid  men  had  apprehended  that  this  conference  would 
awaken  acts  of  hostility  on  the  part  of  the  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  Moslems  in  Cairo,  and  had  even  asked  Lord  Cromer  to  inter- 
fere and  prevent  such  a  calamity.  But  the  Moslem  journals 
and  populace  took  no  notice  of  the  conference.  The  evening 
open  discussion  with  the  sheikhs  of  the  Azhar  University 
and  Moslem  students  continued  as  usual,  and  we  from  other 
and  less  favoured  lands  looked  with  wonder  at  the  notices 
posted  on  the  mission  house  and  in  the  hotels,  of  evening 
public  discussions  with  Mohammedans.  It  was  apparent  that 
all  delegates  present  were  ready  for  a  new  forward  move- 
ment. 

Twenty  years  ago  I  published  a  little  volume,  "  The  Moham- 
medan Missionary  Problem  "  (a  sermon  preached  before  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  in  Saratoga,  May,  1879),  and  pled  for  an  awakening 
of  the  Church  to  its  duty  towards  Islam  and  insisted  that  "God 
has  been  preparing  Christianity  for  Islam  :  He  is  now  preparing 
Islam  for  Christianity.  The  Roman  power  and  the  Greek  lan- 
guage prepared  the  way  for  the  coming  of  Christ  and  the  giving 
of  the  Gospel  to  the  world.  Anglo-Saxon  power  and  the  Arabic 
Bible  in  the  sacred  language  of  the  Koran  are  preparing  the  way 


Our  Great  Objective  767 

for  the  giving  the  Word  of  Christ  and  Christ  the  Word  to  the 
millions  of  the  Mohammedan  world. 

"  The  religion  of  Islam  now  extends  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  at 
Peking  to  the  Atlantic  at  Sierra  Leone,  over  one  hundred  and 
twenty  degrees  of  longitude,  embracing  175,000,000  of  followers 
(now  200,000,000,  1906).  Its  votaries  are  diverse  in  language, 
nationality,  and  customs,  embracing  the  more  civilized  inhabitants 
of  Damascus,  Cairo,  and  Constantinople,  as  well  as  the  wild  nomad 
tribes  of  Arabia,  Turkistan,  and  the  Sahara. 

"  The  evangelization  of  these  vast  organized,  fanatical,  and 
widely  extended  masses  of  men  is  one  of  the  grandest  and  most 
inspiring  problems  ever  brought  before  the  Church  of  Christ  on 
earth.  It  is  a  work  of  surprising  difficulty  which  will  require  a 
new  baptism  of  apostolic  wisdom  and  energy,  faith,  and  love. 

"  This  great  Mohammedan  problem  lying  before  the  Church 
of  Christ  in  the  immediate  future,  connected  with  its  fulfillment 
of  the  great  missionary  commission  of  its  divine  Head  for  the 
world's  salvation,  will  tax  the  intellect,  the  faith,  the  wisdom,  the 
zeal,  and  the  self-denial  of  the  whole  Church  in  every  land. 

"  How  are  we  to  reach  the  200,000,000  of  Mohammedans  spread 
over  one  hundred  and  twenty  degrees  of  longitude  from  China  to 
Mogadore  ;  embracing  vast  nations  speaking  thirty  different  lan- 
guages, with  diverse  climates,  customs,  and  traditions,  yet  unified 
and  compacted  by  a  common  faith  which  has  survived  the  shock 
and  conflicts  of  twelve  hundred  years  ? 

"...  Let  every  Christian  missionary  insist  upon  the  great 
scheme  of  redemption,  the  atoning  sufferings  and  death  of  Jesus  the 
son  of  Mary  and  when  the  Mohammedan  feels,  as  many  have  already 
felt,  that  he  is  a  lost  sinner  and  under  the  righteous  displeasure  of 
an  offended  God,  he  will  gladly  and  gratefully  take  refuge  in  the 
conviction  and  the  faith  that  man  needs  a  Saviour  from  sin,  and 
that  Jesus  the  son  of  Mary  in  order  to  be  a  Saviour  must  also  be 
the  Son  of  God." 

When  the  above  words  were  written  the  exact  statistics  of 
Islam  were  not  known.  The  number  of  Mohammedans  under 
Christian  rule  was  supposed  to  be  : 


768  Jubilee  Times 

England  in  India 41,000,000 

Russia  in  Central  Asia 6,000,000 

France  in  Africa 2,000,000 

Holland  in  Java  and  Celebes 1,000,000 

Total 50,000,000 

But  the  statistical  survey  of  Dr.  Zwemer  presented  to  the 
Cairo  conference  gives  the  total  number  under  Christian  rule  in 
1906  as  161,000,000,  out  of  a  total  of  232,966,170. 

Great  Britain  in  Africa       ....     17,920,330 
"         "        "  Asia        ....     63,633,783 

Total 81,554,113 

France  in  Africa 27,849,580 

"       "  Asia 1,455,238 

Total 29,304,818 

Holland  in  Asia 29,289,440 

Russia  in  Europe  and  Asia 15,889,420 

Germany  in  Africa 2,572,500 

America  in  the  Philippines 300,000 

Other  states 2,150,579 


Total 161,060,870 

Thus  two-thirds  of  the  Mohammedans  in  the  world  are  under 
Christian  rule,  one-seventh  under  non-Christian  rulers  (33,976,500) 
and  only  37,928,800,  or  a  little  more  than  one-seventh,  under 
purely  Moslem  rulers. 

This  remarkable  fact  renders  any  political  solidarity  of  Islam 
impossible.  It  also  insures  liberty  of  conscience  to  honest- 
minded  Moslems  who  wish  to  read  the  Bible  and  even  to  profess 
Christianity. 

If  any  of  the  delegates  to  Cairo  were  faint-hearted  when  they 
went,  they  all  came  away  full  of  hope  and  courage. 

We  who  labour  in  the  Ottoman  Empire  have  to  "  learn  to  labour 
and  to  wait."     We  cannot  give  the  names  of  converts  until  they 


George  Alexander  769 

are  dead  or  exiled.  And  to  publish  the  names  of  the  exiled 
might  bring  down  wrath  upon  the  heads  of  their  relatives.  The 
machinery  of  political  espionage  and  persecution  is  so  complex 
and  ramified  that  we  must  be  "  wise  as  serpents."  Let  any  Moslem 
believer  be  charged  by  another  with  having  cursed  the  name  of 
Mohammed  and  he  will  be  exiled  without  a  trial.  This  is  one  of 
the  most  monstrous  and  iniquitous  features  of  the  present  regime 
in  this  empire.  No  man  knows  when  he  is  safe,  and  nothing  is 
easier  than  denouncing  a  Moslem  convert  with  having  cursed  the 
name  of  Mohammed. 

Among  the  delegates  to  the  conference  was  the  Reverend  Dr. 
George  Alexander,  pastor  in  New  York,  and  president  of  the 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Missions.  He  accompanied  us  to  Jeru- 
salem and  Beirut  and  visited  several  of  our  stations,  preaching 
twice  in  Beirut  and  sailing  May  4th  for  America. 

What  a  blessing  to  us  in  this  far-off  land  to  see  the  benignant 
face  of  such  a  man  and  hear  his  voice  in  our  churches !  We  in 
Syria  are  especially  favoured  in  this  respect,  being  on  the  hne  of 
travel  to  the  Holy  Land  and  we  appreciate  our  privileges. 

The  steamer  which  took  Dr.  Alexander  and  his  niece  also  took 
our  Persian  missionary  delegates,  Dr.  Wilson  and  Miss  Holli- 
day,  returning  from  Cairo  to  Tabriz,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jordan  of 
Teheran,  going  to  America  and  Rev.  George  A.  Ford  of  Sidon 
going  home  on  furlough.  Dr.  Ford  returned  in  December,  a  new 
man,  having  been  married  in  America  to  Miss  Katherine  Booth, 
daughter  of  our  beloved  friend,  the  late  William  A.  Booth,  Esq., 
of  New  York.  They  came  out  buoyant  and  fresh,  ready  for  work, 
full  of  hope  and  cheer.  Mrs.  Ford  will  find  in  the  retired  and 
secluded  hfe  in  the  mission  school  in  Sidon  a  striking  contrast  to 
the  life  in  New  York.  But  missionaries  abroad,  like  pioneers  of 
the  West,  find  home  where  the  heart  is,  and  truly  consecrated  men 
or  women  can  adjust  themselves  to  any  environment. 

The  Hon.  Wm.  J.  Bryan,  the  Chrysostom  of  Democracy,  vis- 
ited Beirut  in  May,  with  his  wife,  son  and  daughter.  He  had  a 
taste  of  the  Turkish  solicitude  for  the  intellectual  welfare  of  its 
subjects  and  guests  by  having  his  books  seized  and  threatened 


77°  Jubilee  Times 

with  confiscation  by  the  custom-house  pohce.  But  by  the  efforts 
of  the  consul-general  the  Waly  was  persuaded  to  restore  the  books 
and  leave  the  distinguished  visitor  unmolested. 

He  addressed  the  Christian  Endeavour  Society  at  a  public 
evening  assembly  and  lectured  in  the  Syrian  Protestant  College 
on  the  Christian  religion  and  its  evidences,  speaking  with  a  mellif- 
luous facility,  beauty  of  language,  and  cogency  of  argument  which 
quite  captivated  his  hearers.  He  made  a  profound  impression, 
and  reflected  honour  on  his  country  as  a  Christian  land.  One 
could  not  help  thinking  of  the  contrast  between  Mr.  Bryan  and 
the  typical  Turkish  pasha. 

Who  ever  heard  of  a  political  speech  by  a  Turkish  pasha  ? 
Politics  is,  in  this  land,  not  a  subject  to  be  talked  about  or  thought 
about.  All  the  political  thinking  for  the  empire  is  supposed  to 
be  done  on  the  Bosphorus.  A  despotism  cannot  train  orators  or 
engender  eloquence.  When  even  the  press  must  avoid  both  re- 
hgion  and  politics,  the  public  mind  soon  subsides  into  stoUd  if 
not  sullen  indifference.' 

Among  the  changes  of  this  year  in  Syria  was  the  arrival  of 
President  Howard  Bliss  from  America  and  the  departure  of  Dr. 
Hoskins  and  family  and  Mrs.  George  Wood  for  the  home  land. 

The  benefactions  of  Mrs.  Wood  to  educational  work  in  Syria 
need  no  praise  from  me.  The  fine  mission  house  in  Judaideh,  the 
Gerard  Institute  in  Sidon,  the  farm  of  300  acres  and  the  Beulah 
Orphan  Home  known  as  Dar  es  Salaam  are  monuments  of  her 
generosity. 

The  summer  was  now  past.  The  scattered  families  and 
labourers  returned  from  their  vacations  in  Mount  Lebanon  and 
the  interior,  and  preparations  were  completed  for  a  new  year's 
work  in  the  mission  stations  and  the  higher  schools  of  learning. 
The  prospect  for  a  prosperous  year  was  never  brighter,  when  three 
successive  blows  fell  upon  the  college  and  mission  circles  filling 
all  minds   with   awe  and  solemnity.     First,  Mr.  E.   H.  Barnes, 

'November,  1908 — Under  the  new  Turkish  Constitution,  all  is  now 
changed.  We  have  a  free  press,  free  assembly  and  free  speech.  Elo- 
quent orators  are  arising  on  every  side. 


Death  of  William  King  Eddy  771 

tutor  in  the  Syrian  Protestant  College,  was  mortally  injured  by  a 
kick  from  his  horse  early  in  October,  and  survived  only  three 
days. 

Then  came  the  second  stroke  in  the  death  of  one  of  God's 
noblemen,  Rev,  William  King  Eddy  of  Sidon.  I  wrote  of  his 
death  as  follows  : 

"  His  peaceful,  beautiful  death  seemed  as  the  '  Amen  '  to  a 
noble,  harmonious  anthem.  He  was  encamped  in  Wady  Darbaz, 
about  four  miles  and  a  half  distant  from  both  Bussah  and  'Alma 
at  the  northeast  end  of  the  plain  of  Acre.  His  tent  companions 
were  his  two  sons,  Clarence,  twelve  years  old,  and  William,  ten, 
his  servant  Hassan,  and  his  Bedawi  disciple  and  devoted  friend, 
'Ali  Berdan.  Hassan  he  had  taken  care  of  when  a  poor  boy  and 
he  had  proved  to  be  a  most  faithful  and  thoughtful  servant  to 
Mr.  Eddy  in  his  constant  itinerating  over  the  mountains  and 
plains  of  Southern  Syria  and  Northern  Palestine.  'Ali,  who  was 
once  a  noted  robber,  sheep-thief,  and  highwayman,  became  ac- 
quainted with  Mr.  Eddy  on  a  hunting  expedition  and  admired 
his  marksmanship  so  much  that  he  accompanied  him  on  his  tours 
through  that  wild  and  lawless  region.  By  degrees  he  left  off 
cursing,  swearing,  lying,  and  stealing  and  his  change  was  so 
striking  that  the  Arabs  and  villagers  of  that  whole  region  between 
Tyre  and  Tiberias  called  Mr.  Eddy  'All's  '  kussis  '  or  minister. 
He  loved  Mr.  Eddy  and  would  do  anything  for  him. 

"  Mr.  Eddy  had  been  on  a  long  tour  through  the  villages  north, 
south,  and  west  of  Mount  Hermon,  and  after  a  few  days  of  rest 
at  Sidon  set  out  on  Wednesday,  October  31st,  for  another  tour 
to  Tyre,  'Alma,  Bussah,  and  Safad.  Professor  Carrier  of  Mc- 
Cormick  Theological  Seminary,  who  had  been  with  him  on  the 
Mount  Hermon  trip,  went  with  him  as  far  as  Tyre,  and  then  pur- 
sued his  journey  to  Jerusalem,  while  Mr.  Eddy  turned  eastward 
to  Bussah  and  pitched  his  tent  near  a  fine  stream  of  water  four 
miles  and  a  half  east  of  the  town.  On  Saturday,  November  3d, 
he  told  his  men  to  take  the  boys  on  a  hunting  trip  into  the  forest 
and  among  the  rugged  hills,  as  he  wished  to  rest  and  prepare  for 
two  communion  services  the  next  day  at  Bussah  and  'Alma.    They 


772  Jubilee  Times 

returned  at  evening,  very  weary,  and,  after  supper,  all  retired, 
father  and  sons  in  the  tent  on  iron  travelling  bedsteads  and 
Hassan  and  'Ali  in  the  cook's  tent.  Before  midnight  Mr.  Eddy 
was  seized  with  acute  pain  in  the  heart  and  called  Hassan,  who 
came  with  'Ali  and  found  him  suffering  and  speaking  only  with 
great  difficulty.  The  boys  awoke  and  sat  up  in  bed.  Mr.  Eddy 
said  to  them, '  My  sons,  I  am  about  to  die,  good-bye.'  He  gave 
them  various  messages  to  their  mother  and  others,  and  asked 
Clarence  to  repeat  the  Twenty-third  Psalm,  and  said, '  Now,  boys, 
lie  down  and  go  to  sleep,  it  is  too  cold  for  you  to  get  up.' 
(Thoughtful  to  the  end  !)  Beautifully  he  wove  into  the  sad  news 
of  impending  death  affectionate  remembrances  of  his  lifelong  as- 
sociate, recently  married  in  America.  '  To-day  Dr.  Ford  and 
his  bride  have  sailed  from  New  York  on  their  way  to  Syria,  and 
to-day  I  am  beginning  my  journey  from  Syria  to  heaven.'  'Ali 
offered  to  gallop  to  Bussah  for  medical  aid.  Mr.  Eddy  said, 
*  No,  'Ali,  I  am  too  near  the  end ;  nothing  can  avail  now ;  I 
shall  soon  be  gone. '  He  then  gave  Hassan  messages  to  Dr. 
Samuel  Jessup  and  Dr.  Mary  Eddy,  and  to  the  church  in  Mejde- 
luna  (whom  he  had  especially  helped).  When  the  paroxysm  of 
pain  came  on  'Ali  and  Hassan  brought  hot  stones  from  the  fire- 
place outside,  where  the  food  had  been  cooked,  and  placed  them 
at  his  feet,  which  were  growing  icy  cold.  They  chafed  his  hands 
and  did  all  in  their  power  to  relieve  him.  About  i  a.  m.,  Sunday, 
November  4th,  he  said  to  Hassan, '  You  can  see  by  my  pulse  that 
death  is  near.  When  I  cease  to  breathe,  close  my  eyes,  dress  me 
in  my  clothes,  take  all  my  papers  and  the  contents  of  my  pockets, 
wrap  them  and  carry  them  to  Mrs.  Eddy.  Pack  up  the  tent 
equipage  and  carry  me  to  Bussah,  and  there  Mr.  Shikri  will  make 
a  coffin.  Then  take  me  to  Sidon.  I  wish  my  body  to  be  buried 
there,  among  my  people,  and  not  in  my  lot  in  the  Beirut  ceme- 
tery.' He  then  placed  his  hand  on  'Ali's  head  and  bade  him  and 
Hassan  a  loving  good-bye.  His  voice  was  growing  weaker.  He 
said  to  his  little  sons,  '  Sleep  on  now ;  I  shall  sleep  and  not  wake 
here.'  His  pulse  grew  feebler  and  his  breathing  ceased.  His 
soul  passed  on  to  glory. 


In  Harness  in  the  Wilderness  773 

"  Silence  fell  upon  the  lonely  camp.  The  little  boys  say  that 
they  could  not  sleep,  neither  could  they  get  warm.  '  How  could 
we  get  warm  when  our  hearts  were  so  cold  ?  '  At  length  one  of 
them  left  his  bed,  got  in  with  his  brother,  and  locked  in  each 
other's  arms  they  fell  asleep. 

"  Mr.  Eddy  had  for  some  time  been  conscious  that  a  mortal 
malady  was  fastened  upon  him.  With  true  prophetic  instinct  he 
had  said  to  his  wife,  '  I  shall  die  some  day  suddenly,  so  do  not 
be  alarmed  when  you  hear  of  my  death.  I  would  prefer  to  die 
in  the  wilderness  where  I  have  spent  so  much  of  my  time.'  And 
his  desire  was  accomplished.  He  died  in  his  missionary  tent, 
apart  from  the  habitations  of  men,  in  the  silence  of  the  midnight, 
in  those  mountains  of  "  Gahlee  of  the  Gentiles,'  his  loyal  dis- 
ciple, the  Bedawi,  'Ali  Berdan,  being  the  last  to  watch  his  ex- 
piring breath. 

"  When  all  was  finished,  in  the  quiet  of  the  night  'Ali  rode  to 
Bussah  and  brought  bearers.  The  camp  was  packed  and  taken 
to  town.  The  bearers  bore  the  dear  form  on  a  stretcher  to 
Bussah,  where  it  was  laid  in  the  public  open  area,  and  the  vil- 
lagers surrounded  it  with  great  lamentations.  Shikri,  a  devoted 
friend  and  helper  of  Mr.  Eddy,  prepared  a  coffin.  It  was  borne 
three  miles  down  to  the  seashore  near  Zib  (the  ancient  Achzib) 
where  a  boat  with  eight  oarsmen  was  engaged  to  take  the  body 
to  Sidon.  After  rowing  eleven  miles,  opposite  the  Ladder  of 
Tyre,  a  fierce  north  wind  arose  and  made  rowing  impossible. 
They  drew  up  to  the  beach  and  tried  to  tow  the  boat  with  a  rope, 
but  this  was  dangerous  with  the  rising  surf.  They  then  landed, 
engaged  a  camel  from  a  passing  caravan,  and  set  out  for  Tyre, 
seven  miles  distant.  At  Ras  el  Ain,  three  miles  south  of  Tyre, 
they  met  a  wagon  and  a  company  of  friends,  the  pastor.  Rev. 
Asaad  Abbud,  the  Misses  Walker  and  Onslow,  of  the  British 
Syrian  School,  and  others.  At  the  bridge  of  the  river  Kasimiyeh, 
five  miles  north  of  Tyre,  they  met  Mr.  Stuart  Jessup  and  the 
Sidon  pastor,  Mr.  Khalil  Rasi,  in  a  carriage,  who  took  the 
wearied  little  orphan  boys  on  with  them  to  Sidon,  where  the  party 
arrived  about  10  p.  m.,  met  and  accompanied  by  large  numbers  of 


yy4  Jubilee  Times 

brethren  and  friends,  Mohammed  Effendi  Dada,  a  Moslem,  one  of 
the  most  devotedly  attached  friends  of  Mr.  Eddy,  and  a  skillful 
carpenter,  superintended  the  making  of  an  appropriate  coffin  in 
the  industrial  shops,  to  replace  the  rough  box  made  in  Bussah, 
and  after  the  body  was  transferred  to  it,  it  was  placed  in  the  chapel 
for  the  night. 

"  The  sad  telegraphic  news  reached  Beirut  at  2  p.  m.  Sunday,  as 
also  Tripoli  and  Zahleh.  Dr.  Mary  P.  Eddy,  at  M'aamiltein  near 
Beirut,  was  informed  of  her  brother's  death  and  set  out  by  moon- 
light by  carriage  for  Sidon.  On  Monday  morning  at  six  Messrs. 
Nelson  of  Tripoli,  William  Jessup  of  Zahleh,  H.  H.  Jessup  and 
March  of  Beirut  with  Professor  Porter  and  Mr,  Kurban  of  the 
college,  and  Mr.  Powell,  United  States  vice-consul,  left  for  Sidon, 
arriving  about  noon, 

"  The  funeral  was  held  at  2  p.  m,  in  the  ancient  Crusaders'  Hall, 
the  present  chapel  of  the  boarding-schools.  It  was  a  magnificent 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  departed  one, — Christians,  Moslems, 
and  Jews,  and  representatives  of  some  twenty  villages  were  pres- 
ent to  do  him  reverence.  Some  came  from  'Alma,  thirty  miles 
distant.  The  crowds  about  the  chapel  were  so  great  that  the 
street  outside  was  blocked.  The  services  were  conducted  by  Drs. 
Henry  and  Samuel  Jessup,  Rev.  F.  W.  March,  Professor  Porter, 
Rev.  William  Jessup,  and  Rev,  Asaad  Abbud, 

"  As  the  procession  passed  through  the  streets,  the  Moslems 
shut  their  shops  and  stood  in  silence  on  both  sides  of  the  street,  and 
many  of  them  walked  the  mile  out  to  the  cemetery.  Thousands 
of  the  people  of  Sidon  and  the  vicinity  crowded  into  the  streets 
and  open  spaces  as  the  funeral  line  advanced.  The  head  of  the 
Romish  Latin  convent  exclaimed  as  the  cortege  passed, '  That 
man  has  gone  straight  to  heaven,'  Three  elegiac  poems  were 
recited  over  the  grave  by  young  men  from  the  Gerard  Institute. 
The  expressions  of  sympathy  were  very  affecting.  As  the  peo- 
ple left  the  cemeter)'',  the  missionaries  stood  with  Dr.  Nelson,  the 
brother  of  Mrs.  Eddy,  near  the  gate  to  receive,  according  to  the 
Syrian  custom,  the  parting  bow  and  salutation  of  the  friends. 
One  elderly  Moslem  called  out, '  We  shall  never  forget  him,  we 


An  Ideal  Missionary  775 

shall  never  forget  you,  God  comfort  you.'  The  grief  of  the  peo- 
ple old  and  young,  of  teachers  and  preachers  and  neighbours, 
was  very  great.  It  was  a  solemn  hour  for  all.  Sidon  and  Syria 
had  lost  a  champion. 

"  Mr.  Eddy  developed  remarkable  power  as  a  missionary.  He 
was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  intellectual  ability  and  force  of 
character.  His  whole  heart  was  in  evangelistic  work.  The  mis- 
sion assigned  to  him  the  care  of  an  extensive  district,  including 
many  outstations  with  their  churches  and  schools.  The  Syrian 
pastors  and  helpers  under  his  superintendence  needed  and  re- 
ceived his  constant  cooperation  in  a  thousand  matters.  He  was 
indefatigable  in  his  labours.  He  spent  no  small  part  of  each  year 
on  horseback,  visiting  the  various  parts  of  his  great  bishopric, 
sleeping  in  the  native  houses,  exposing  himself  freely  to  every 
kind  of  hardship  and  privation,  travelling  in  summer's  heat  and 
winter's  cold,  and  not  only  in  sunshine  but  in  rain  and  snow.  In 
the  mingled  beauty  and  strength  of  his  Christian  consecration,  he 
was  an  ideal  missionary.  He  took,  too,  a  deep  interest  in  matters 
outside  of  his  own  immediate  field.  He  was  one  of  the  best  in- 
formed men  in  the  world  regarding  the  political,  economic,  and 
moral  problems  in  the  Turkish  Empire." 

He  died  December  3,  1906.  At  the  meeting  of  the  mission  an 
appropriate  minute  was  adopted,  and  a  memorial  service  held  in 
which  fifteen  American  and  English  missionaries  recounted  their 
impressions  of  his  life  and  character.  He  was  in  many  respects 
the  ideal  missionary. 

The  third  stroke  of  sorrow  came  in  the  death  of  Prof. 
Robert  Haldane  West  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  on 
December  12th,  of  typhoid  fever.  He  came  to  Syria  November 
14,  1883,  and  for  twenty  years  has  been  a  man  to  reckon  upon  in 
the  college.  He  won  the  affection  and  respect  of  all  who  knew 
him.  His  high  scientific  attainments  as  a  mathematician  and 
astronomer,  his  mechanical  skill,  his  practical  good  sense,  his 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  his  firm  stand  for  truth  and  right- 
eousness, his  great  humility"and  godly  life  made  him  a  fit  example 
for  the  hundreds  of  young  men  who  came  under  his  influence. 


776  Jubilee  Times 

On  August  30,  1905,  he  was  one  of  the  astronomers  appointed 
to  observe  the  solar  edipse  at  Assouan,  Upper  Egypt.  Robert 
West  was  a  saintly  scholar  and  a  scholarly  saint. 

1907 — Early  in  1907  the  Moslem  journals  in  Egypt  and  Syria 
boasted  that  Japan  was  likely  to  become  Mohammedan  ;  that  a 
deputation  of  learned  sheikhs  had  interviewed  the  Mikado,  who 
was  disposed  to  adopt  Islam  as  the  national  faith.  Well  assured 
that  the  story  was  false,  I  wrote  to  Dr.  Imbrie  of  Tokio,  who 
replied  that  there  was  not  a  Moslem  in  Japan,  that  no  deputation 
of  Moslems  had  seen  the  Mikado  nor  could  see  him.  I  translated 
Dr.  Imbrie's  letter  into  Arabic  and  had  it  published  in  the  A/tram 
of  Cairo,  as  we  could  not  print  it  in  Syria.  Here  the  Moslems 
can  attack  Christianity,  but  no  Christian  can  reply.  (It  remains 
to  be  seen  whether,  under  the  new  constitution  of  July  24,  1908, 
free  discussions  with  Moslems  will  be  allowed.) 

In  June  we  gave  diplomas  to  four  theological  graduates,  who 
went  at  once  to  their  fields  of  labour,  three  in  Northern  Syria, 
and  one  to  the  Bookaa. 

The  necrology  of  this  year  includes  the  death,  on  February  ist, 
of  Mr.  Selim  Kessab,  a  prominent  Christian  worker,  and,  on 
March  2d,  that  of  Miss  Proctor,  founder  of  the  Shwifat  schools. 

Mr.  Kessab,  or  "  Muallim  Selim,"  as  he  was  familiarly  called, 
was  a  native  of  Damascus,  born  in  the  year  1841.  In  July,  i860, 
at  the  time  of  the  dreadful  massacre  in  Damascus,  he  was  the 
Arabic  teacher  and  helper  of  Rev.  John  Crawford,  of  the  Irish 
Presbyterian  Mission.  They  had  gone  to  Yabrood  for  the  sum- 
mer, when  the  Moslem  villagers  attempted  to  kill  him,  asserting 
that  all  Christians  were  to  be  massacred,  but  the  friendly  sheikh 
protected  him  and  the  missionaries.  The  massacre  in  Damascus 
took  place  July  9th,  and  a  fortnight  later  a  party  of  Algerine 
horsemen  of  the  Prince  Abd  el  Kadir  went  to  Yabrood,  at  the 
request  of  the  British  consul  and  escorted  them  safely  to  Damas- 
cus. Two  months  later  he  removed  with  the  missionaries  Craw- 
ford and  Robson  to  Beirut,  where  in  September  he  met  Mrs. 
Bowen  Thompson,  just  arrived  from  England  to  aid  in  the  relief 


Selim  Kessab — Louisa  Proctor  777 

of  the  widows  and  orphans.  He  was  her  interpreter  and  teacher, 
and  became  in  time  the  head  master  of  the  institution,  and  was 
for  years  the  trusted  examiner  of  all  the  British  Syrian  Schools. 
He  was  prominent  in  the  Syrian  Evangelical  Church,  and  often 
preached  with  great  acceptance.  His  Arabic  was  both  clear  and 
classical,  and  he  was  master  of  the  most  extensive  "  bahr,"  or 
vocabulary,  in  Arabic,  that  I  have  ever  known.  He  spoke  with 
great  ease  and  fluency.  On  the  last  morning  of  his  life  he  entered 
the  chapel  of  the  institution  as  usual,  to  conduct  morning  prayers. 
In  the  midst  of  the  prayer  he  suddenly  fell  back  and  expired 
from  heart  failure.  His  death  was  a  great  loss  to  the  cause  of 
Protestant  Christian  education  and  to  the  church  in  Syria.  He 
was  the  founder  and  first  president  of  Beirut  City  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
called  in  Arabic  "  The  Shems  ul  Bir,"  or  sun  of  righteousness. 

Miss  Louisa  Proctor  came  to  Syria  as  a  traveller,  in  1880,  and 
joined  Mrs.  Mentor  Mott  in  the  British  Syrian  School  work. 
Later  she  assisted  successively  Miss  Hicks  of  the  Female  Educa- 
tion Society  in  Shemlan,  Mount  Lebanon,  and  Miss  Taylor  in 
her  remarkable  work  for  Moslem  and  Druse  girls  in  Beirut.  Up 
to  1885  the  Shwifat  schools  were  under  the  American  Mission, 
and  in  August,  1880,  Miss  Susan  H.  Calhoun  with  her  widowed 
mother  began  a  high  school  for  girls,  which  continued  until  their 
departure,  on  account  of  impaired  health,  for  America  in  April, 
1885.  Miss  Proctor  then  acceded  to  the  request  of  the  Shwifat 
people,  and,  in  September,  1886,  opened  a  boarding-school  for 
girls  with  fifteen  pupils,  being  assisted  by  the  Syrian  preacher  of 
the  American  Mission,  Rev.  Tannus  Saad,  who  continued  as  her 
assistant  and  manager  up  to  the  time  of  her  death.  She  erected 
a  large  edifice  for  a  boys'  boarding-school,  and,  at  the  time  of  her 
decease,  had  in  both  schools  183  pupils,  of  whom  114  were 
boarders.  She  devoted  her  fortune  and  her  whole  time  and 
strength  to  these  schools.  She  had  remarkable  self-consuming 
zeal,  great  energy  and  executive  ability,  and  even  in  advancing 
years  taught  her  class  with  all  fidelity.  Her  work  is  now  under 
the  care  of  Miss  Stephenson,  Rev.  Tannus  Saad,  and  a  committee 


77^  Jubilee  Times 

of  friends  in  England  and  Beirut.  Shvvifat  is  a  large  village  of 
Greeks  and  Druses,  at  the  base  of  the  Lebanon  range,  six  miles 
south  of  Beirut. 

In  May  an  imperial  order  was  issued  for  the  Syrian  Protestant 
College  and  the  American  schools  in  the  empire,  granting  them 
the  same  immunities  that  are  given  to  the  schools  of  other  na- 
tions. The  state  of  the  empire  seemed  almost  hopeless.  Murder 
and  outrage  were  unpunished,  secret  police  and  spies  made  life 
miserable :  everything  was  under  censorship  and  espionage  and 
the  best  citizens  were  constantly  maltreated,  imprisoned  or  ex- 
iled. No  one  could  blame  the  people  for  emigrating  in  thou- 
sands. 

In  this  same  month  two  corner-stones  were  laid  with  great 
ceremony  :  that  of  the  Orthodox  Greek  bishop's  proposed  college, 
and  the  Waly's  industrial  schools.  The  latter  were  completed 
and  opened  for  pupils,  but  on  the  removal  of  the  Waly  who 
founded  them,  and  having  no  endowment  or  fixed  income,  they 
have  been  closed.  The  Greek  college  is  still  unfinished,  as,  owing 
to  divisions  in  the  sect,  the  funds  failed  for  the  time. 

In  June  a  young  Persian  Moslem  convert,  a  pupil  of  Sidon 
school,  who  had  been  teaching  in  Hauran,  was  arrested  and  im- 
prisoned in  Damascus  and  Beirut.  No  charge  was  filed  against 
him,  and  he  was  not  given  a  trial,  but  the  police  and  zabtiyehs  ex- 
pected bribes  and  kept  him  in  prison  for  months. 

On  June  28th  Muzuffar  Pasha,  Governor  of  Lebanon,  died,  re- 
gretted by  none.  His  family  had  exploited  the  Lebanon  district 
for  months,  shamelessly  taking  bribes,  until  his  government  be- 
came a  byword.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  fall  by  Yusef  Franco* 
son  of  a  former  governor,  who  has  yet  to  prove  his  competence 
for  this  high  office. 

We  were  all  made  very  anxious,  in  September,  by  the  serious 
illness  of  Dr.  Daniel  Bliss.  It  was  cause  for  the  greatest  thank- 
fulness that  he  was  mercifully  restored  to  health,  and  he  has  now 
recovered  his  usual  vigour,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  whole  com- 
munity. 


When  Through  the  Deep   Waters  779 

The  American  Press  reported  this  year  that  75,200  volumes, 
and  22,292,842  pages  had  been  printed,  making,  from  the  begin- 
ning, 878,756,184  pages.  The  mission  had  100  schools  of  all 
grades,  and  5,089  pupils.  The  income  from  pupils  in  all  the 
mission  schools  was  ^41,632,  and  the  Syrian  Protestant  College 
income  was  even  larger. 

In  October  my  only  surviving  sister,  Miss  Fanny  M.  Jessup, 
died  in  Montrose,  Pa.,  aged  seventy-two  years.  She  was  a  model 
of  loving  devotion  to  her  kindred  and  service  to  her  church. 
During  the  fifty-two  years  of  my  residence  in  Syria  she  had, 
when  not  disabled  by  illness,  written  me  or  brother  Samuel  a 
weekly  letter.  Through  her  we  have  been  kept  in  close  touch 
with  the  home  friends  and  the  home  land.  Though  struggling, 
for  forty  years  with  an  incurable  malady,  she  maintained  her 
cheerful  Christian  courage  and  found  joy  in  blessing  others. 

But  I  httle  thought  what  a  grievous  affliction  was  in  store  for 
me,  when,  after  the  December  mission  meeting  was  over,  my 
dear  wife,  Theodosia,  was  taken  suddenly  ill  with  a  cold  which 
developed  rapidly  into  pneumonia.  Her  heart  was  affected,  and 
in  the  early  morning  of  December  19th  she  breathed  her  last, 
peacefully  falling  asleep  in  Jesus.  She  said  she  was  ready  to  go, 
but  she  longed  to  remain  for  the  sake  of  her  loved  ones,  and  be- 
cause there  was  so  much  more  she  wanted  to  do  for  her  Lord. 
Others  have  spoken  and  written  of  her  eminent  piety,  her  high 
intellectual  gifts,  her  musical  talents  and  unwearied  missionary 
labours,  her  organization  of  the  societies  which  are  carrying  on 
the  work  of  Christian  Endeavour,  the  Beirut  reading-room,  and 
the  Syrian  Women's  "  Helping  Hand."  The  sympathy  of  our 
friends,  Syrian  and  foreign,  was  unbounded,  and  the  tributes 
paid  to  her  character  and  life  were  beautiful.  "  She  hath  done 
what  she  could." 

A  learned  effendi  of  Beirut  recently  said  to  me  that  the  so- 
called  Koranic  learning  of  the  Azhar  University  is  a  sham  and 
behind  the  age.  Said  he,  "  Of  what  use  is  it  that  this  Fukih  or 
learned  sheikh  can  tell  you  twenty  different  interpretations  of  a 
verse  of  the  Koran,  or  a  point  of  law,  and  strut  about  in  his  long 


ySo  Jubilee  Times 

robes  full  of  scholastic  conceit  ?  We  want  men  trained  in  prac- 
tical things,  and  not  men  living  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  cen- 
turies ! " 

The  Moslems  have  many  fine  traits,  and  hold  to  much  of  the 
truth,  A  poor  Protestant  girl  in  Beirut,  wasted  with  consump- 
tion, helped  to  support  herself  and  her  widowed  mother  by  knit- 
ting the  beautiful  thread  edging  called  "  oya  "  on  the  border  of 
the  muslin  veils  of  the  Syrian  women.  One  day  she  started  to 
walk  down-town  about  a  mile,  to  deliver  to  the  merchant  a  dozen 
veils  she  had  finished.  When  nearly  down  to  the  old  city  she 
sank  exhausted  by  the  wayside.  Nearly  opposite  was  a  Moslem 
coffee-house.  An  elderly  white-bearded  Moslem  saw  her  and 
hastened  to  carry  her  a  stool  and  help  her  to  sit  on  it.  He  said, 
"  My  child,  you  look  very  ill.  Why  did  you  try  to  walk  this  hot 
day  ?  "  He  then  ordered  iced  lemonade,  ordered  a  carriage,  and 
drove  with  her  to  an  educated  Moslem  doctor  in  the  vicinity. 
Getting  a  prescription,  for  which  he  paid,  and  paying  the  phar- 
macist also  for  the  medicine,  he  ordered  the  driver  to  take  her 
home  at  his  expense  !  She  did  not  know  his  name,  but  in  teUing 
us  of  it  a  few  days  after  as  we  called  on  her,  lying  on  her  bed, 
she  said,  "  Was  not  that  like  the  Good  Samaritan  ?  "  We  as- 
sured her  that  it  was.  But  we  could  not  ascertain  the  name  of 
the  kind-hearted  old  man. 

Let  us  print  and  teach  and  live  before  them  a  Christian  Hfe 
and  we  may  win  them  to  Christ. 

The  Arabic  Bible  with  educational  and  medical  missions  will 
be  the  efficient  factors  in  bringing  Islam  to  Christ. 


F'-/^H 


PLAN  OP"  THE  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIAN  MISSION  PROPERTY 

AT  BEIRUT 


XXX 

What  Shall  the  Harvest  Be? — January  1908-May  1909 

WITH  this  year,  in  my  seventy-seventh  year,  I  conclude 
this  sketch  of  a  missionary's  hfe  and  of  the  American 
Mission  in  Syria.  I  hardly  expected  to  live  to  see 
the  granting  of  a  Constitution  in  Turkey,  but  it  has  come  in  my 
day,  and  we  are  now  living  in  the  time  of  transition  between  the 
old  and  the  new,  a  time,  naturally,  full  of  ferment  and  unrest. 

The  work  of  Christian  education  in  Syria  suffered  a  great  loss 
by  the  death,  in  January,  of  Mr.  Morris  K.  Jesup  of  New  York, 
a  trustee  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College,  and  one  of  its  most 
generous  supporters. 

Among  other  losses  by  death  was  that  of  Mr.  Thomas  Little, 
the  head  of  the  boys'  boarding-school  of  the  Friends'  Mission 
in  Brummana ;  that  of  Mrs.  Luciya  Zaazooah  Saiugh,  for  many 
years  a  teacher  in  the  Beirut  Girls'  School,  and  an  exemplary 
Christian  wife  and  mother;  and,  on  November  21st,  Rev.  John 
Wortabet,  M.  D,,  aged  eighty-one  years.  He  was  widely  known 
as  a  physician  and  author.  He  was  ordained  May,  1853,  in 
Hasbeiya,  and  served  as  pastor  there  about  five  years  when  he 
visited  Scotland  and  published  his  invaluable  book  on  the  "  Re- 
ligions of  Syria."  He  was  then  sent  out  by  a  Scotch  society  as 
missionary  to  Aleppo  where  he  remained  until  called  in  1869  to 
a  professorship  in  the  Beirut  Medical  College  as  colleague  with 
Drs.  Van  Dyck  and  Post.  He  was  a  man  of  great  industry,  an 
exact  scholar  and  successful  physician.  He  was  especially  kind 
to  the  sick  poor,  and  had  a  wide  reputation  throughout  Syria. 
For  twenty  years  he  had  given  up  preaching  and  confined  him- 
self to  professional  and  literary  work.  He  was  one  of  the  original 
committee  which  organized  the  Asfuriyeh  Hospital  for  the 
Insane. 

781 


782  What  Shall  the  Harvest  Be? 

Mrs.  S.  H.  Calhoun,  the  widow  of  the  "  Saint  of  Lebanon," 
died  in  the  home  of  her  missionary  daughter,  Mrs.  C.  H.  Ran- 
som, at  Adams,  Natal,  South  Africa,  November  4th,  aged  eighty- 
four  years.  She  arrived  in  Syria  March  6,  1849,  and  for  twenty- 
six  years  until  June,  1875,  lived  in  Abeih  a  beautiful  life,  the  angel 
of  a  model  Christian  household,  beloved  by  Druses  and  Christians 
of  all  sects,  and  a  tower  of  strength  to  her  noble  husband.  In 
June,  1875,  she  sailed  for  America  with  her  husband,  who  died 
in  Buffalo,  December  14,  1876.  The  following  May  she  returned 
to  Syria  and  laboured  among  the  women  in  Beirut,  Deir  el  Komr 
(1878),  and  Shwifat  (1880).  In  1885  she  returned  to  America, 
and  afterwards  accompanied  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Ransom,  to  the 
Zulu  Mission,  Natal,  where  she  remained  until  her  death,  having 
visited  Syria  in  1901  en  route  for  America. 

Mrs.  Wm.  K.  Eddy,  feeling  obliged  to  resign  from  the  mission, 
sailed  with  her  two  younger  boys  and  Dr.  and  Mrs,  Nelson  for 
America,  in  April.  Rev.  Wm.  Jessup  and  family  started  on  their 
furlough  in  July. 

The  work  of  the  press  was  a  record  one, — 44,589,571  pages,  of 
which  30,500,000  were  Arabic  Scriptures,  having  been  printed. 
Eighteen  cases  of  Scriptures  were  shipped  to  Shanghai,  for  use 
among  Chinese  Mohammedans.  In  March  orders  were  on  file 
for  more  than  100,000  copies  of  Scriptures  and  parts  of  Scrip- 
tures. 

There  has  been  also  a  marked  increase  in  the  number  of  pupils 
in  all  the  mission  boarding-schools  for  boys  and  girls,  as  well  as 
in  the  amount  paid  by  them. 

Mr.  Amin  Fehad  was  ordained  in  the  summer  over  the  Abeih 
church,  in  the  presence  of  a  crowded  congregation,  and  I  was 
glad  to  stand  in  the  old  pulpit  of  Mr.  Calhoun  and  Mr.  Bird  and 
give  hipi  the  ordaining  charge. 

Mr.  Tannus  Saad  was  ordained  in  Beirut  in  December,  during 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  Syria  Mission,  as  pastor  of  the  Shwi- 
fat congregation. 

Early  in  December,  Mr.  Antone  Hamawy,  a  stone-mason  of 
Kharaba,  in  Hauran,  east  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  was  ordained  by  the 


A  Forecast  783 

Presbytery  of  Sidon  and  two  of  the  church-members  were  ordained 
as  elders  at  the  same  time.  He  has  had  no  theological  training,  but 
has  studied  the  Bible  for  years,  and  drunk  deep  from  the  fountain 
of  divine  truth.  These  three  brethren  came  to  see  me  in  Beirut, 
came  into  my  sick-room,  and  I  prayed  with  them.  It  was  re- 
freshing to  see  these  stalwart  men,  dressed  like  the  Arabs  of 
Hauran,  consecrated  to  the  service  of  Christ  in  that  wild  region. 

In  June,  1908,  one  month  before  the  fall  of  the  Turkish  des- 
potism, I  wrote  the  following  forecast  of  the  future  of  Syria, 
little  thinking  that  in  so  short  a  time  such  great  strides  would 
have  been  taken  towards  its  ultimate  fulfillment. 

The  Future 

As  I  look  forward  from  this  height  to  the  future  of  Syria  I  am 
full  of  hope.  For  twenty-three  hundred  years  Semitic  Syria  has 
been  a  vassal  of  Indo- Germanic  races,  Macedonians,  Greeks,  Ro- 
mans, Franks,  and  Turks.  And  there  is  little  hope  that  it  will 
ever  be  governed  by  a  Semitic  ruler.  There  will  be  a  new  Syrian 
people  and  a  new  Syria.  But  it  will  not  be  evolved  chiefly  from 
political  changes,  nor  by  commercial  development,  but  by  the 
spread  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  These  effete  systems  of 
Oriental  Christianity  will  be  vitalized  by  casting  off  the  grave- 
clothes  of  dead  forms  and  standing  up  in  the  purity  and  life  of 
a  true  Christian  faith.  The  scores  of  monasteries  and  nunneries, 
which  have  appropriated  the  hard  earnings  of  the  poor  peasants 
of  the  Greeks,  Maronites,  and  Greek  Catholics  for  ages,  until 
they  dominate  whole  provinces  by  the  money  power,  holding  the 
people  as  tenants  at  will,  will  be  confiscated,  as  has  been  done 
in  Italy,  Spain,  and  France,  and  the  proceeds  devoted  to  schools 
and  hospitals  instead  of  supporting  an  army  of  lazy,  corrupt,  and 
worthless  monks. 

There  will  arise  from  among  the  Moslems  themselves  earnest 
men  who  will  see  in  Jesus,  the  son  of  Mary,  their  true  prophet, 
priest,  and  king,  and  call  on  the  Moslem  world  to  accept  Him  as 
their  Lord  and  Redeemer. 


784  What  Shall  the  Harvest  Be? 

The  evangelical  church  of  Syria  will  carry  on  the  work  of 
evangehzing  the  Bedawin  Arab  tribes.  The  American  mission- 
aries, leaving  the  care  of  the  native  churches  to  the  people  them- 
selves, will  devote  their  energies  to  instruction  in  the  universities 
and  colleges,  to  the  theological  schools,  the  seminaries  for  girls, 
and  the  work  of  publication. 

Woman,  emancipated  from  the  hareem  and  the  veil,  will  take 
her  proper  place  in  Oriental  society,  supreme  in  the  home  and 
eminent  in  Christian  service. 

Can  all  these  things  take  place  under  Mohammedan  despotic 
rule  ?  I  do  not  venture  to  say,  but  the  verdict  of  history  is  that 
despotism  and  reform  are  incompatible.  Whoever  is  on  the 
throne,  will  have  to  grant  absolute  liberty  of  conscience,  abolish 
bribery  and  corruption  in  the  courts,  and  make  all  men  equal  be- 
fore the  law.  The  interference  of  priests  and  bishops,  Ulema  and 
sheikhs,  in  the  courts  of  justice  will  be  stopped.  No  man  enter- 
ing a  court  will  be  asked,  "  What  is  your  religious  sect  ?  "  or 
"  What  pull  or  backing  have  you  ?  "  but  each  man  will  be  treated 
as  a  man  and  a  citizen.  No  Christian  will  be  told  as  now  that 
"  You  cannot  testify,  as  testimony  is  a  religious  act,  and  only 
Mohammedans  are  true  believers,  therefore  they  only  can  testify," 
but  this  colossal  principle  of  religious  bigotry  will  be  abolished. 
The  thousands  of  emigrants  to  America,  returning  with  their 
foreign-born  children,  will  bring  into  the  old  East  the  free  ideas 
and  sterling  principles  of  the  West.  And  the  broad  uncultivated 
acres  of  the  Hinterland  of  Syria  will  teem  with  new  villages  and 
a  crowded,  enlightened,  and  happy  people. 

The  Arabic  Bible  will  supplant  the  Arabic  Koran :  not  the 
mutilated  and  manipulated  Bible  of  the  modern  sappers  and 
miners,  but  the  Old  Testament  as  we  have  it  from  the  Jews,  and 
the  New  Testament  as  accepted  by  the  early  Church. 

The  scholars  of  the  Syrian  Evangelical  Church,  born  and  bred 
in  an  Oriental  atmosphere  and  accustomed  to  Semitic  forms  of 
thought  and  expression,  accept  the  Bible  as  it  is,  and  find  no 
difficulty  in  matters  which  men  trained  in  Western  and  European 
surroundings  regard  as  insuperable  objections  to  the  Scripture 


The  Bloodless  Revolution  785 

veracity  and  verity.  And  the  Arabic  Bible,  which  has  no  peer 
in  Arabic  literature,  and  which  as  a  translation  is  known  to  stand 
nearest  to  the  original  text,  will  continue  to  mould  the  literature 
of  the  Arab  race  in  the  future,  as  the  Koran  has  done  in  the 
past. 

The  finer  qualities  of  the  Syrian  character,  their  courtesy  and 
hospitality,  their  sympathy  with  the  sorrowing  and  bereaved, 
their  loyalty  to  family  and  home,  will  be  hallowed  and  sanctified 
by  the  added  graces  of  Christian  faith  and  love, — and  certain  de- 
fects, incident  to  a  people  oppressed  for  centuries,  will  be  gradu- 
ally eliminated  by  the  wholesome  air  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

It  is  a  great  comfort,  to  one  able  to  compare  the  dark  past  with 
the  brightening  present  and  the  brighter  future,  that  all  the 
modern  awakening  of  the  Syrian  people  is  ascribed  by  the  people 
themselves  to  the  institutions  planted  by  the  American  mission- 
aries eight  decades  ago.  The  Moslems  and  Oriental  Christians 
alike  used  to  tell  us  that  the  education  of  girls  was  not  only  im- 
possible but  dangerous. 

Now  they  vie  with  each  other  in  founding  and  conducting 
schools  for  girls,  building  fine  edifices,  using  modern  methods, 
discussing  the  benefits  of  female  education  in  their  journals,  and 
insisting  that  the  stability  of  society  depends  upon  educated 
mothers.  One  wonders  at  the  transformation.  This  new  de- 
parture is  leavening  society.  Girls  and  women  are  beginning  to 
think. 

On  Sunday  p.  m.,  July  26th,  as  we  were  leaving  the  little  Aleih 
chapel  after  the  English  service,  Consul-General  Ravendal  startled 
us  all  with  the  telegraphic  news  that  the  Midhat  Pasha  Constitu- 
tion of  1876,  which  had  been  suppressed  by  Abdul  Hamid  II  for 
thirty-two  years,  had  now,  July  23d,  been  restored  by  a  blood- 
less revolution  effected  by  the  Young  Turkey  Party  headed  by 
Enver  Beg  and  Niazi  Beg,  commanders  of  the  Turkish  army  in 
Macedonia  in  the  name  of  the  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress. 
The  threat  of  marching  on  Constantinople  with  100,000  men 
brought  the  Sultan  to  terms,  and  aft^r  Vc^in  attempts  to  evade  the 


786  What  Shall  the  Harvest  Be  ? 

issue  he  was  obliged  to  send  telegraphic  orders  throughout  the 
whole  empire  reestablishing  the  Constitution,  and  requiring  the 
immediate  election  of  members  to  the  Ottoman  Parliament. 

There  is  no  need  of  going  into  details  which  are  so  fresh  in  all 
minds  and  so  generally  known,  but  we,  as  well  as  the  world  at 
large,  were  electrified  at  the  sudden  transition. 
\       It  was  not  only  the  transition  of  the  Turkish  Empire  from  des- 
I  potism    to  constitutional   government,  but  a  transition  from  an 
I  exasperating  censorship  of  books  and  newspapers  to  perfect  Hb- 
jerty  of  the  press  ;  from  a  cruel  and  intimidating  system  of  espio- 
nage managed  by  that  arch  intriguer  and  deceiver  of  the  Sultan, 
I  Izzet  Pasha,  to  the  abolition  of  the  whole  system  and  the  flight 
'of  Izzet  himself;    from  a  grinding  system  of  internal  tezkeras 
I  (passports)  to  free  right  of  transit  to  all ;  from  constant  banish- 
j  ment  and  imprisonment  of  enlightened  men,  Moslems  and  Chris- 
i  tians,  suspected  of  belonging  to  the  Young  Turkey  Party, — hun- 
\  dreds  having  fled  from  their  country, — to  a  full  and  free  amnesty 
to  all  political   exiles,  hundreds  of  whom  are  now  returning  to 
their  loved  native  land ;  from  a  condition   in  which  no  public 
^meeting  could  be  held,  no  public  speech  uttered  without  special 
permission  from  a  fanatical  censor,  to  free  speech,  free  right  of 
iassembly,  and  freedom  in  criticizing  the  acts  of  the  government ; 
/from  an  irresponsible  rule  of  hungry  and  bribe-taking  pashas,  to 
'  a   parliament  of  representatives   from  all   parts   of  the  empire, 
•  elected  by  the  people  from  all  sects,  Moslems,  Christians  and 
I  Jews  ! 

I  The  whole  empire  burst  forth  in  universal  rejoicing.  The 
I  press  spoke  out.  Public  meetings  were  held,  cities  and  towns 
'  decorated,  Moslems  were  seen  embracing  Christians  and  Jews, 
and  inviting  one  another  to  receptions  and  feasts.  The  universal 
voice  of  the  Moslems  was,  "  We  have  been  compelled  by  orders 
from  the  Sultan's  palace  to  hate  one  another.  Now,  we  are 
brethren  and  we  can  live  in  peace.  We  shall  henceforth  know 
each  other  only  as  Ottomans."  "  Long  live  liberty  !  Long  live 
the  army  !     Long  live  the  Sultan  !  " 

The  pent-up  feelings  of  the  populace  everywhere  burst  forth  in 


Long  Live  Liberty  I  787 

loud  hurrahs  in  the  public  streets.  Syria  has  never  seen  such 
real  rejoicing.  Can  it  be  true  ?  Will  it  last  ?  were  questions  in 
all  mouths.  It  was  startling  to  those  who  had  left  Syria  early  in 
July  under  the  old  regime  to  be  greeted  in  New  York  harbour 
with  the  news  of  free  institutions  in  Turkey.  It  seemed  too  good 
to  be  true,  and  for  weeks  we  here,  foreigners  and  Syrians  alike, 
seemed  to  be  hving  in  a  dream.  The  Golden  Age  seemed  to  be 
dawning. 

While  the  large  majority  believed  in  the  genuineness  of  this 
radical  change  in  the  institutions  of  the  empire,  not  a  few  doubted, 
and  it  is  true  that  the  old  Islamic  spirit  of  intolerance,  held  in 
check  temporarily  by  the  popular  enthusiasm,  has  turned  out  to  be 
like  a  smouldering  flame  ready  to  burst  out  whenever  favourable 
occasion  should  offer.  This  appeared  in  various  ways  : — in  the 
sullen  attitude  of  the  sheikhs  and  religious  fanatics  ;  in  anonymous 
papers  printed  in  Damascus  and  Aleppo  asserting  that  the  Con- 
stitution was  destructive  to  the  Sacred  Shareaa  (Islamic  law)  of 
the  Koran,  and  in  other  ways  of  which  I  shall  speak  later. 

A  striking  instance  of  the  practical  outcome  of  this  ferment 
working  in  the  popular  mind  after  the  promulgation  of  the  Con- 
stitution was  the  attempt  made  by  non-Christian  pupils  in  our 
Syrian  Protestant  College  to  evade  the  rule  requiring  attendance 
upon  religious  worship.  In  December,  1908,  the  college  had  a 
larger  roll  of  pupils  than  ever  before,  of  whom  120  were  Moham- 
medans. Repeated  efforts  had  been  made  by  them,  their  families 
and  their  sheikhs  to  have  them  excused  from  attendance  at 
prayers  and  all  religious  exercises,  including  classes  for  Bible 
study,  on  the  ground  that  this  was  the  new  era  of  "  religious 
liberty."  They  were  reminded  that  the  college  is  a  Christian 
missionary  college,  founded  by  Christian  men,  controlled  by 
Christian  trustees  in  New  York,  endowed  with  Christian  funds 
and  that  its  fundamental  rules  require  all  students  to  attend  all 
the  religious  exercises.  This,  however,  was  well  known  to  all  the 
Moslem  parents  who  send  their  sons  to  the  college  as  it  has  been 
the  policy  for  forty  years,  and  is  made  perfectly  clear  in  state- 


788  What  Shall  the  Harvest  Be? 

ments  in  the  college  prospectus  and  catalogue.  No  one  is 
forced  to  enter  the  college,  there  is  perfect  *'  liberty  "  in  that,  but 
if  he  enters  he  must  conform  to  all  its  rules.  There  is  no  dis- 
crimination against  non-Christian  students.  All  are  treated  alike  : 
— Moslems,  Armenians,  Jews,  Greeks,  Catholics,  Druses  and 
Protestants,  and  these  870  students,  living,  studying  and  exerci- 
sing together  for  four,  eight,  or  twelve  years  will  learn  to  act  to- 
gether harmoniously  in  the  future  as  citizens  of  a  free  country,  to 
respect  each  other  and  be  the  leaders  in  reform  and  progress. 

This  was  the  case  until  the  close  of  1908  when  ninety  of  the 
Moslem  students,  incited  by  fanatical  men  in  Beirut,  and  intriguers 
among  their  own  number  formed  a  league  of  rebellion  and  took 
an  oath  on  the  Koran  that  they  would  "  neither  attend  the  relig- 
ious exercises  of  the  college  nor  leave  the  college."  A  consider- 
able number  of  the  Moslem  students  refused  to  join  the  league, 
but  seventy  Jewish  students  took  similar  ground,  and  the  faculty, 
in  the  absence  of  the  president,  had  to  face  the  problem  of  either 
trying  to  expel  160  students  by  force,  or  yielding  temporarily  to 
their  demand  to  be  excused  from  college  prayers  and  Bible  study. 
The  latter  course  was  adopted  as  a  temporary  expedient,  but  in 
March,  1909,  after  the  president's  return,  this  action  was  modified. 
The  non- Christian  students  were  excused  from  chapel  exercises, 
but  those  who  wished  to  remain  in  the  college  were  required  to 
attend  the  regular  Bible  classes.  This  compromise  was  to  be  a 
"  modus  Vivendi "  until  the  end  of  the  college  year  in  July,  with 
the  understanding  that  when  the  college  opened  its  doors  in 
October,  1909,  it  would  be  on  the  old  basis  of  required  attendance 
on  religious  exercises.  This  maintains  the  missionary  character 
of  the  college,  and  will  be  gratifying  to  all  its  friends  in  this  em- 
pire and  in  America. 

The  history  of  this  difficulty  in  the  college  has  been  ably  sum- 
marized in  a  printed  statement  (April,  1909)  issued  by  President 
Bliss. 

The  dawn  of  a  new  era  is  breaking.  A  parliament  assembled 
in  December,  1908,  not,  this  time,  to  be  suppressed  again  as  in 
1877.     The   entire  army  of  the   empire,  on  which  the  Sultan 


The  New  Parliament  789 

Abdul  Hamid  relied  to  sustain  his  throne,  has  become  constitu- 
tional in  its  policies.  It  produced  the  bloodless  revolution  and 
it  will  see  to  it  that  there  is  no  going  back. 

The  parliament,  as  at  present  constituted,  is  a  fair  exponent  of 
the  racial  and  religious  elements  of  the  empire. 

There  are  259  members  of  which 


Turks 
Arabs 
Greeks     . 
Albanians 


119 — All  Mohammedans 
72 — 71  Mohammedans,  i  Catholic  Christian 
23 — Orthodox  Greek  Christians 
15 — All  Mohammedans 


Gregorian  Armenian  10 — Armenian  Christians 

Kurds      ....  8 — Mohammedans 

Spanish  Jews     .     .  4 — Jews 

Bulgarians    .     .     .  4 — Orthodox  Greek  Christians 

Servians       .     .     .  3 —         "  '*  ** 

Wallachs      .     .     .  i—         «<  '*  " 

259 

This  gives  213  Mohammedan  members 
42  Christian  ** 

4  Jewish  " 

As  this  is  their  first  experience  of  parliamentary  rules  and  duties, 
this  first  session  should  be  regarded  as  a  training-school.  The 
people  in  the  provinces  complain  bitterly  of  the  present  state  of 
disintegration  and  disorder,  and  of  the  failure  of  Parliament,  after 
a  few  months  in  session,  to  give  relief  and  security  to  the  empire. 
But  the  people  must  be  patient.  They  have  started  on  a  new 
career,  and  have  many  able  and  level-headed  men  among  their 
leaders.  The  two  great  needs  to-day  are  money — to  build  up  the 
country  impoverished  by  the  rapacity  of  the  office-holders — and 
honest  men. 

The  Syrians  may  well  pray, 

**  Give  me  men  to  match  my  mountains,  give  me  men  to  match 
my  plains, 
Men  with  empires  in  their  purpose,  men  with  eras  in   their 
brains." 


790  What  Shall  the  Harvest  Be? 

And,  may  I  add,  men  of  conscience,  integrity  and  principle. 
Alas,  that  they  are  so  few ! 

We  must  anticipate  fanatical  outbreaks  against  the  constitu- 
tional government.  Lord  Cromer  says,  "  To  reform  Islam  is  to 
destroy  it."  The  fanatics  evidently  believe  this  and  resist 
reform. 

The  unclean  spirit  first  rent  the  lad  and  then  came  out  of  him. 
The  evil  demon  of  Moslem  fanatical  hatred  of  light  and  liberty 
will  be  cast  out,  but  let  us  not  wonder  if  it  first  rend  and  tear  the 
Ottoman  body  politic. 

The  question  which  naturally  confronts  us  is.  How  will  all  these 
great  changes  affect  the  religious  future  of  the  empire  ? 

We  can  be  sure  that  the  free  publication  and  importation  of 
books,  magazines  and  newspapers  will  give  a  great  impulse  to 
popular  enlightenment  and  tend  to  break  down  prejudice. 

Popular  education  in  government  schools  as  well  as  the  inde- 
pendent schools,  native  and  foreign,  must  be  vastly  extended  and 
improved, — as  hereafter  primary  education  will  be  compulsory. 
Heretofore  all  the  government  primary  schools  have  been  for 
Moslem  children  only  and  under  Moslem  teachers.  It  remains  to 
be  seen  whether  government  aid  will  be  given  to  schools  for 
Christian  children. 

The  Thumrat,  a  leading  Moslem  journal  in  Beirut,  insists  that 
the  only  sure  means  for  fusing  the  sects  of  the  empire  and 
making  all  Ottomans  brethren  is  the  mixing  of  Moslem  and 
Christian  children  in  the  common  schools  to  study  and  learn  the 
same  lessons  from  the  same  books.  It  is  not  clear  that  the 
Oriental  Christians  will  consent  to  this.  Moslem  children  are  so 
foul-mouthed  and  use  such  vile  language  in  common  conversation, 
that  Christian  parents  dread  to  have  their  children  associate  with 
them.  But  if  a  government  allowance  is  given  to  separate 
schools  for  the  time  being,  the  difficulty  may  be  gradually 
removed.  We  cannot  expect  patriotic  Turks  and  Christians 
to  do  in  a  year  what  our  ancestors  have  attained  only  after  cen- 
turies of  struggle  and  experiment. 

What  the  effect  will  be  on  liberty  of  conscience  to  Moslems, 


Pan-Islamism  Doomed  791 

one  cannot  predict.  They  can  at  least  buy  the  Bible  and  Chris- 
tian books  openly,  which  they  could  not  do  before.  One  great 
reason  for  government  opposition  to  Moslems  becoming  Chris- 
tians has  been  that  the  army  of  the  empire  is  a  Moslem  army, — 
only  Moslems  being  allowed  to  bear  arms — hence  every  Moslem 
convert  to  Christianity  was  a  loss  to  the  army,  a  renegade  from 
conscription.  A  late  proclamation  by  the  new  party  of  "  Union 
and  Progress  "  declares  that  henceforth  the  Christians  may  enter 
the  army  and  the  military  schools  for  training  officers.  When 
this  is  carried  into  effect,  the  government,  as  such,  will  not  care 
what  a  man's  religion  is,  as  all  will  belong  to  the  army  as  loyal 
soldiers  under  the  Constitution.  It  will  develop  a  spirit  of  manly 
independence  among  the  youth  of  the  Oriental  Christian  sects  in- 
stead of  the  cowed,  cringing  attitude  into  which  they  have  so  long 
been  driven  by  their  inferior  condition. 

What  will  be  the  effect  of  the  Constitution  on  Pan-Islamism  ? 

1.  It  will  not  promote  it.*  The  policy  of  the  late  despotism 
of  "  Yildiz  "  was  to  elevate,  promote,  and  reward  Moslems  and  to 
depress,  oppress,  and  suppress  Christians.  The  new  policy  of 
equality  and  justice  will  elevate  Christians  and  remove  fanatical 
prejudice.  It  will  make  it  difficult  for  any  Sultan  in  the  future  to 
proclaim  a  Pan-Islamic  crusade. 

2.  It  will  modify  it.  It  proclaims  the  absolute  equality  of  all 
sects  and  religions.  It  claims  that  Islam  favours  justice,  liberty 
of  conscience,  and  civilization.  If  it  incites  Moslems  elsewhere  to 
fraternize  with  Christians  and  Jews,  and  upholds  Islam  as  the 
bond  of  brotherhood  with  all  men,  it  will  be  a  large  step  forward. 
A  free  constitution  extracts  the  fangs  of  the  old  Pan-Islamic 
monster  nurtured  so  long  at  "  Yildiz." 

3.  The  fanatical  tribes  of  Asia  and  Africa  will  be  slow  to  ac- 
cept the  counsels  of  a  Sultan  at  the  head  of  a  free,  self-governing, 
civilized  people. 

4.  Arabic  scholars  are  already  printing  tracts  to  prove  that 
Islam  is  the  mother  of  modern  civilization,  and  promotes  brother- 

'  Enver  Beg,  the  head  of  the  reform  party,  declares  that  the  new  Con- 
stitution will  have  nothing  to  do  with  Pan-Islamism, 


79^  What  Shall  the  Harvest  Be? 

hood  among  the  nations.  This  is  a  hopeful  sign.  The  new 
parliament  will  never  vote  a  Jehad  or  Holy  War ! 

5.  The  right  of  free  assembly  and  free  speech  will  bring  the 
educated  young  men,  Moslems  and  Christians,  into  a  new  fellow- 
lowship  and  a  new  feeling  of  dignity  and  manhood.  As  a 
Damascene  scholar  has  just  said,  "  Under  the  old  regime  we  were 
mere  ciphers.  There  was  no  manhood  and  no  self-respect. 
Suspicion  and  alienation  were  universal,  but  now  we  can  hold  up 
our  heads ;  we  are  men,  we  are  brethren.  We  have  rights  and 
we  have  a  country.  Life  is  now  worth  living ! "  This  experi- 
ence of  independent  manhood  is  one  of  the  most  hopeful  features 
of  the  present  outlook.  There  may  be  excesses  and  errors.  In 
the  present  transition  state  of  the  empire  there  is  great  confusion 
anjd  unrest.  The  reactionaries  are  numerous  and  full  of  intrigue. 
But  the  reform  government  seems  to  be  preparing  to  do  thorough 
work.  The  great  difficulty  is  to  find  honest  officials.  No  mat- 
ter.    A  free  people  will  soon  learn  in  the  school  of  experience. 

The  state  of  Turkey  up  to  July  23,  1908,  was  like  the  state 
of  Rome  up  to  September  20,  1870,  when  the  Italian  army 
entered  the  Eternal  City.  Up  to  that  time  Rome  was  a  nest  of 
spies,  informers,  and  persecutors,  governed  by  the  Inquisition. 
Every  Protestant  foreign  traveller  had  his  Bibles  and  books  taken 
from  him,  his  steps  were  dogged  by  spies,  and  informers  listened 
at  the  keyhole  of  his  room.  No  Protestant  book  or  newspaper 
could  enter  the  city.  Every  enlightened  Italian  was  persecuted 
and  banished.  But  on  September  20th  the  gates  flew  open. 
Light  and  liberty  entered.  The  horde  of  spies  hid  their  heads. 
Bible  and  book  shops  were  opened  and  travellers  unmolested. 

So  in  Turkey,  before  July  23,  1908,  the  whole  empire  was 
under  a  reign  of  terror.  The  best  men  in  the  empire  were  as- 
sassinated or  exiled.  Spies  charged  innocent  men  with  con- 
spiracy and  crime  and  they  were  dragged  from  their  beds  and 
thrust  into  loathsome  dungeons.  Secret  police  dogged  the  steps 
of  every  foreigner,  seized  books  and  newspapers,  and  levied  black- 
mail on  native  travellers,  until  the  people  were  driven  to  despera- 
tion, and  while  publicly  shouting  "  Long  live  the  Sultan ! "  in- 


July  the  Month  of  Liberty  793 

wardly  invoked  the  curse  of  God  upon  him.  But  on  July  24th 
all  was  changed.  The  Sultan's  power  was  curtailed.  His  horde 
of  corrupt  palace  officials  imprisoned  and  banished,  and  procla- 
mation made  of  a  free  press  and  free  right  of  assembly,  free 
speech,  free  transit,  no  more  spies,  or  secret  police,  or  arbitrary 
arrests.  The  exiles  called  home,  no  censorship  of  newspapers, 
books  or  telegrams,  and  for  the  first  time  in  history,  Turkey  has 
a  "  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people." 

The  month  of  July  will  hereafter  be  known  as  the  month  of 
liberty : 

July  4th,  America. 

July  14th,  France. 

July  23d,  Turkey. 

Truly  "  this  is  the  Lord's  doing  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our 
eyes"(Ps.  118:43). 

6.  The  seed  planted  in  Syrian  soil  in  1822  by  two  young 
Americans  was  slow  in  germinating,  but  the  root  took  firm  hold 
of  the  soil.  Decade  after  decade  it  spread  over  the  empire,  from 
village  to  village,  city  to  city,  and  province  to  province.  The 
school  and  the  press  gradually  did  their  work,  until  thousands  of 
the  best  youth  in  Syria,  Asia  Minor,  Palestine,  and  Egypt  are 
now  thinking  men  and  women.  Tyranny  and  misrule  have  driven 
them  forth  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  to  breathe  a  free  air  and  find 
scope  for  their  energies.  They  will  gradually  return,  some  of 
them  at  least,  prepared  to  join  in  the  civil,  moral,  and  political 
regeneration  of  the  empire. 

Now  is  the  time  for  distributing  God's  Word  and  spreading  a 
Christian  literature.  A  free  press  will  print  more  bad  than  good 
books.  Let  all  interested  in  these  historic  lands  supply  the  means 
for  giving  the  people  a  wholesome  literature. 

Let  us  have  faith  in  the  Orient,  long  oppressed  and  blinded  by 
centuries  of  misrule,  and  just  beginning  to  "  see  men  as  trees 
walking." 

A  chain  of  parliaments  from  Portugal  to  Persia  is  a  fact  no 
one  would  have  credited  when  I  came  to  Syria.  God's  hand  is 
in  it.     He  changes  the  hearts  of  kings  and  their  people.    We 


794  What  Shall  the  Harvest  Be"? 

have  doubted  long  enough.  Let  us  have  faith  in  God  and  hu- 
manity. Christ  will  yet  come  to  His  own.  '♦  His  kingdom  is  an 
everlasting  kingdom  and  His  dominion  endureth  throughout  all 
generations." 

Conclusion 

After  writing  two  successive  conclusions  to  this  history,  I  find  it 
necessary  to  add  another,  in  view  of  the  two  kaleidoscopic  revolu- 
tions just  enacted  in  Constantinople,  and  the  blood-curdling  trage- 
dies in  Cilicia  and  Northern  Syria.  They  seem  to  be  parts  of  the 
expiring  throes  of  Islamic  despotism.  The  Liberal  Midhat  Consti- 
tution of  1876,  so  soon  throttled  by  Abdul  Hamid,and  revived  by 
the  Young  Turkey  heroes,  Niazi  Beg  and  Enver  Beg,  July  23, 1908, 
roused  against  itself  the  fury  of  all  the  reactionary  and  absolutist 
forces  in  the  empire  headed  by  the  Yildiz  palace  gang  of  Abdul 
Hamid,  and  the  cause  of  liberty  seemed  to  be  lost  a  second  time. 
But  the  well-drilled  and  loyal  army  of  Salonica  once  more  saved 
Constantinople,  banished  the  old  Sultan  and  placed  his  younger 
brother  Reshad,  a  better  man,  on  the  throne,  April  24,  1909,  as 
Sultan  Mohammed  V. 

Simultaneously  with  this  furious  outbreak  in  the  capital,  came 
the  Cilician,  sacrificing  more  than  thirty  thousand  Armenian 
Christian  lives  and  leaving  more  than  that  number  of  homeless 
and  starving  widows  and  orphans. 

Mukhtar  Pasha  el  Ghazi,  Turkish  commissioner  in  Egypt  for 
twenty  years,  and  now  loyal  to  the  Constitution,  writes  from  Con- 
stantinople to  a  Turkish  pasha  in  Egypt,  that  had  the  entrance  of 
the  Salonica  army  been  delayed  five  days,  not  only  Constantinople 
but  all  the  cities  in  the  empire  would  have  been  given  over  to 
massacre  and  pillage.  Thank  God  that  such  horrors  were  averted  ! 
— and  only  a  small  part  of  the  fiendish  programme  was  carried  out 
— /.  e.,  that  in  Cilicia  and  Northern  Syria. 

I  confess  myself  unable  to  predict  what  will  come  next.  Time 
alone  will  reveal  the  future  of  this  hapless  empire.  The  hand  of 
God  is,  however,  so  manifest  in  recent  events  that  we  may  firmly 


Scripsi  795 

believe  that  a  higher  and  better  future   is  in  store  for  the  new 
Ottoman  nation. 

After  the  Armenian  massacres,  in  1896,  Sir  Lewis  Morris 
wrote  a  burning  appeal  to  Europe  to  intervene,  and  seemed  to 
have  a  seer's  vision  as  he  wrote : 

"  Nay,  nay,  it  is  enough  !  enough  !     No  more 
Shall  black  Oppression  rule.     Her  reign  is  o'er. 

No  more,  O  Earth,  no  more. 
Let  not  despair  afflict  your  brethren  still ! 
Let  the  new-coming  Age,  a  happier  birth, 
Bless  these  waste  places  of  the  suffering  Earth ! 
Let  Peace,  with  Law,  the  tranquil  valleys  fill, 
And  make  the  desert  blossom  as  the  rose  !  " 


Postscript : — It  was  impracticable  for  my  father  to  personally 
supervise  the  bringing  out  of  this  book.  He  is  therefore  not  re- 
sponsible for  any  oversights  in  proof-reading. 

He  would  desire  to  record  his  gratitude  to  Dr.  Dennis  for 

valuable  suggestions  on  detail  points  which  his  exact  knowledge 

made  available. 

H.  W.  J.,  Ed. 


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Bart>in1mn/Tr.  Eduxl' 


Appendix  I 
Missionaries  in  Syria  Mission  From  1819  to  1908 


D. 


R. 


Names 

1.  Rev.  Levi  Parsons    ,    , 

2.  Rev.  Pliny  Fisk     .    ,    . 

3.  Rev.  Jonas  King,  D.  D, 

4.  Rev.  Wm.  Goodell,  D.  D, 

5.  Mrs.  Abigail  P.  Goodell 

6.  Rev.  Isaac  Bird     .    .    . 

7.  Mrs.  Ann  P.  Bird  .    .    . 

8.  Rev.  Eli  Smith,  D.  D.  . 

9.  Mrs.  Sarah  L.  H.  Smith 

10.  Rev.  W.  M.  Thomson,  D. 

11.  Mrs.  Eliza  N.  Thomson 

12.  Asa  Dodge,  M.  D.     .    . 

13.  Mrs.  Martha  Dodge  .    . 

14.  Rev.  George  B.  Whiting 

15.  Mrs.  Matilda  S.  Whiting 

16.  Mrs.  Maria  Thomson    . 

17.  Miss  Rebecca  Williams 

IRev.  Story  Hebard     . 
Mrs.     Hebard     (Miss 
Williams)     .... 

19.  Rev.  John  F.  Lanneau 

20.  Miss  Betsey  Tilden   .    . 

21.  Rev.  Chas  S.  Sherman 

22.  Rev.  Elias  R.  Beadle   . 

23.  Mrs.  Hannah  Beadle    . 

24.  Mrs,  Martha  E.  Sherman     . 

25.  Rev.  Samuel  Wolcott,  D.  D. 

26.  Mrs.  C.  E.  Wolcott    .... 

27.  Rev.  Nathaniel  A.  Keyes    . 

28.  Mrs.  Mary  Keyes 

29.  Rev.  Leader  Thomson  .    .    . 

30.  Mrs.  Anne  E.  Thomson    .    . 

31.  C.  V.  A.  Van   Dyck,  M.  D., 

D.  D.,  L.  H.  D 

32.  Mr.  George  C.  Hurter  .    .    . 

33.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Hurter  .    .    . 

34.  Mrs.  Maria  W.  C.  Smith 

35.  Henry  A.  DeForest,  M.  D.  . 

36.  Mrs.  C.  S.  DeForest  .    .    .    . 

37.  Mrs.  Julia  A.  Van  Dyck  .    . 

38.  Rev.  Simeon  H.  Calhoun     . 

39.  Rev.  Thomas  Laurie,  D.  D. 


Time                     Time 

Date 

of  Entering         of  Leaving 

of  Death 

Jan. 

15,  1820 

Feb. 

10,  1822 

Jan. 

15,  1820 

Oct. 

23,  1825 

Nov. 

2,  1822  Aug. 

26,  1825 

Oct. 

16,  1823  May 

2,  1828 

Feb. 

16,  1867 

Oct. 

16,  1823  May 

2,  1828 

Oct. 

16,  1823  Aug. 

1835  June 

1876 

Oct. 

16,  1823  Aug. 

1835  May 

10,  1877 

Feb. 

18,  1827 

Jan. 

",  1857 

Jan. 

28,  1834 

Sept. 

30,  1836 

April 

1834  To  U, 

S.     1877  April 

8,  1894 

April 

1834 

July 

22,  1834 

Sept. 

1834 

Jan. 

28,  183s 

Sept. 

1834 

1838 

Oct. 

1834 

Nov. 

8,  1855 

Oct. 

1834  Mar. 

14,  1856 

Aug. 

3.  1835 

April 

29,  1873 

Nov. 

13.  »835 

Feb. 

18,  1840 

Mar. 

14,  1836 

June 

30,  1841 

Nov. 

13.  1835 

May 

I,  1836  Feb. 

17,  1846 

June 

16,  1836  Mar. 

I,  1843 

Sept. 

1838  July 

I,  1842 

October         1838  Sept. 

1842 

Jan. 

6,  1879 

Octobe 

r         1838  Sept. 

1842 

April 

I,  1840  Jan. 

2,  1843 

April 

I,  1840  Jan. 

2,  1843 

April 

I,  1840 

Oct. 

6,  1841 

April 

I,  1840  April 

5.  1844 

April 

I,  1840  April 

5,  1844 

April 

I,  1840  Mar. 

I,  1843 

April 

I,  1840  Mar. 

I,  1843 

April 

I,  1840 

Nov. 

13.  1895 

April 

15,  1841  June 

31,  1864 

1895 

April 

15,  1841  June 

7,  1861 

July 

24,  1893 

June 

17,  1841 

May 

27,  1842 

Mar. 

23,  1842  May 

8,  1854 

1859 

Mar. 

23,  1842  May 

8,  1854  April 

3,  1896 

Dec. 

22,  1842  Now 

in   Beirut 

July 

28,  1844  June 

10,  1875 

Dec. 

14,  1876 

Dec. 

II,  1844  May 

9,  1846  (to  Nest.  Miss.) 

797 


798 


40.  Mrs. 

41.  Rev. 

42.  Mrs. 

43.  Rev. 

44.  Mrs. 

45.  Rev. 

46.  Mrs. 

47.  Rev. 

48.  Mrs. 

49.  Mrs. 


Appendix  I 


Names 

Henrietta  S.  Smith 
Wm.  A.  Benton  . 
Loanza  G.  Benton 
J.  Edwards  Ford  . 
Mary  Ford  .  .  . 
David  M.  Wilson 
Emmeline  Wilson 
Horace  Foote  .  . 
Roxana  Foote  .  . 
Emily  P.  Calhoun 


Time 
of  Entering 


Time 
of  Leaving 


Date 
of  Death 


.  Jan. 

.  Oct. 
.  Oct. 

.  Mar. 
.  Mar. 
.  Mar. 
.  Mar. 
.  Aug. 
.  Aug. 
.  Mar. 


52- 
S3- 
54. 
55- 

56. 

57- 
58. 

60. 
61. 
62. 

63- 
64. 

65. 
66. 

67. 
68. 
69. 
70. 
7»- 
72- 
73. 

74. 

75- 
76. 

77- 
78. 

79- 
80. 
81. 
82. 

83. 
84. 
85. 
86. 
87. 


Mrs.  Sarah  P.  Williams  .  . 
Miss  Anna  L.  Whittlesey  . 
Rev.  Wm.  W.  Eddy,  D.  D. 
Mrs.  Hannah  Maria  Eddy  . 
Miss    Sarah    Cheney   (Mrs. 

Aiken)  

Rev.  William  Bird    . 
Mrs.  Sarah  G.  Bird  . 
Rev.  J.  Lorenzo  Lyons 
Mrs.  Catherine  N.  Lyons 
Rev.  Edward  Aiken  .    . 
Mrs.  Susan  D.  Aiken    . 
Rev.  Daniel  Bliss,  D.  D. 
Mrs.  Abby  M.  Bliss 
Rev.  H.  H.  Jessup,  D.  D, 
Mrs.  Caroline  Jessup     . 
Miss  Jane  E.  Johnson  . 
Miss  Amelia  C.  Temple 
Miss  Adelaide  L.  Mason 
Rev.  Samuel  Jessup,  D.  D. 
Mrs.  Annie  E.  Jessup   . 
Rev.  Philip  Berry  .    .    . 
Mrs.  Magdalene  Berry  . 
Rev.  Geo.  E.  Post,  M, 

LL.  D 

Mrs.  Sarah  R.  Post   .    . 
Rev.  S.  S.  Mitchell   .    . 
Mrs.  Lucy  M.  Mitchell 
Rev.  Isaac  N,  Lowry    . 
Mrs.  Mary  E.  Lowry    . 
Mrs.  Harriet  E.  Jessup 
Miss  Eliza  D.  Everett  . 
Miss  Ellen  A.  Carruth  . 
Rev.  Jas.  S.  Dennis,  D.  D 
Miss  Ellen  Jackson  .    , 
Miss  Sophie  B.  Loring 
Galen  B.  Danforth,  M.  D, 
Rev.  Frank  Wood     .    . 
Mrs.  Sophia  R.  Wood 
Mrs.  Emily  C.  Danforth 


D., 


Mar. 
May 
Jan. 
Jan. 

April 

April 

April 

Feb. 

Feb. 

Jan. 

Jan. 

Feb. 

Feb. 

Feb. 

April 

Aug. 

Aug. 

April 

Jan. 

Jan. 

Oct. 

Oct. 

Nov. 
Nov. 
June 
June 
Nov. 
Nov. 
Nov. 
Nov. 
Nov. 
Feb. 
Nov. 
Dec. 
Nov. 
Nov. 
Nov. 
Dec. 


12, 

20, 

20, 
8, 
8. 
8, 
8. 

24. 

24. 
6, 


50.  Rev.  W.  F.  Williams,  D.  D.  Mar.         6, 


6, 

2, 

31. 


25. 
25. 


7. 

7. 

7» 

26, 

31. 
31. 
ii> 

24, 
24. 

7. 

7. 


12, 
12, 
22, 
22, 
22, 
22, 
22, 
10, 
15. 
19. 
9, 
28, 
28, 
25, 


847  May  1857 

847  1 86 1 

847  I 86 I 

848  June  30,  1865 
848  Jan.  30,  1865 
848  May  4,  1 86 1 
848  May  4,  1 86 1 
848  Oct.  1854 

848  Oct.  1854 

849  April  I,  1885 

849  May  1 85 1 
(to  Mosul) 


Aug. 
Aug. 

April 

Dec. 

Sept. 

May 

Sept. 

Nov. 

Nov. 


14,  1893 
1874 

1866 
27,  1902 

1887 
6,  1899 

1887 

1854 
4,  1908 


(in  Natal) 


849 
851 
852 
852 


July  I,  1854 

May  I,  1853 

Jan.  31,  1900 

April  19,  1904 


1858 


Aug. 


30,  1902 
14,:;  1 888 


853  May   I, 

853 

853 

855  June     1863  Mar, 

855  June     1863 

856  May  I,  1858  1889  (?) 
856  June  20,  1856 
856  ToS.P.C.  1863 

856  To  S.  P.  C.  1863 
856 

July   2,  1864 
15.  ^859 
1862 
30,  1865 


858 

858  Mar. 
858  April 
860  June 
863 
863 

863  Oct. 
863  Oct. 


1865 
1865 


Dec.  II,  1895 


863 

863 
867 
867 
867 
867 
868 
868 
868 
869 
870 
870 
871 
871 
871 
871 


ToS.P.C. 
ToS.P.C. 
July 
July 

June   2, 
June   2, 


June  25, 
May  10, 
Feb. 

Dec.  18, 
May 


Sept. 


1866  Sept.  29,  1909 

1866 

1868 

1868 

1870  April  10,  1871 

1870         1872 

April   5,  1882 
1895  Feb.   8,  1902 
1870 
1892 
1883 
1873 

July   9.  1875 

July   20,  1878 
1878 

Jan.   13,  1881 


Names 


Appendix  I  799 

Time  Time  Date 

of  Entering         of  Leaving  of  Death 


89.  Rev.  Oscar  J.  Hardin     .    ,  Nov.  28,  1871 

90.  Mrs.  Mary  P.  Dennis  .    .    .  Oct.  1872  Feb.  1892 

91.  Rev.  Gerald  F.  Dale,  Jr.    .  Nov.        5,  1872  Oct.        6,  1886 

92.  Miss  Mary  Kipp Nov.         5,  1872  Dec.      II,  1875 

93.  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Hardin      .    .  May  5,  1873 

94.  Rev.  Theodore  S.  Pond  .    .  May  16,  1873  July        I,  1889 

95.  Mrs.  Julia  H.  Pond     .    .    .  May  16,  1873  July        i,  1889 

96.  Rev.  Frederick  W.  March  Nov.  18,  1873 

97.  Miss  Helen  M.  Fisher     .    .  Nov.  18,  1873  Mar.     28,  1875 

98.  Miss  Eliza  Van  Dyck  .    .    .  Sept.  1875  '879 

99.  Miss  Harriet  M.  Eddy 

(Mrs.  F.  E.  Hoskins)  .    .  Jan.  20,  1876 

100.  Miss  Harriet  La  Grange    .  Jan.  25,  1876 

101.  Miss  Emilia  A.  Thomson   .  May  30,  1876 

102.  Miss  Mary  M.  Lyons  .    .    .  Oct.  14,  1877  May       6,  1880  June     12,  1896 

103.  Rev.  William  K.  Eddy  .    .  Oct.  i,  1878  Nov.       3,  1906 

104.  Mrs.  Mary  Bliss  Dale  .    .    .  April  16,  1879  1904 

105.  Rev.  Chas.  Wm.  Calhoun  .  July  1879  July      22,  1883 

106.  Rev.  W.  L.  Johnston  .    .    .  Aug.  12,  1879  Aug.     12,  1880 

107.  Mrs.  W.  L.  Johnston  .    .    .  Aug.  12,  1879  Aug.     12,  1880 

108.  Miss  Emily  G.  Bird    .    .    .  Aug.  20,  1879 

109.  Miss  Susan  H.  Calhoun      .  Oct.  23,  1879  Apr.      20,  1885 
no.  Miss  Fanny  Cundall   .    .    .Dec.  18,1879  Mar.       1,1883 

111.  Mrs.  Jennie  H.  March    .    .  Nov.  4,  1880 

112.  Rev.  George  A.  Ford,  D.  D.  Jan.  6,  188 1 

113.  Miss  Bessie  M.  Nelson 

(Mrs.  W.  K.  Eddy)     .    .  Oct.  12,  1881  April     13,  1908 

114.  Miss  Caroline  M.  Holmes  .  Nov.  14,  1883  July      II,  1895 

115.  Miss  Sarah  A.  Ford    .    .    .Dec.  16,  1883  April  1885 

116.  Rev.  Wm.  M.Greenlee  .    ,  Dec.  16,  1883  July  1887 

117.  Ira  Harris,  M.  D Dec.  18,1883 

118.  Mrs.  Alice  Bird  Greenlee  .  Nov.  6,  1884  July  1887 

1 19.  Mrs.  Theodosia  D,  Jessup  .  Nov.  22,1884  Dec.      19,1907 

120.  Mrs.  Alice  E.  Harris  .    .    .  Feb.  1885 

121.  Miss  Alice  S.  Barber  .    .    .  Oct.  15,  1885 

122.  Miss  Rebecca  M.  Brown    .  Oct.  15,  1885  June     19,  1892 

123.  Miss  Charlotte  H.  Brown  .  Oct.  15,  1885 

124.  Miss  Mary  T.  M.  Ford       .  Oct.  22,  1887  June     12,  1894 

125.  Rev.  Franklin  E.  Hoskins  July  6,  1888 

126.  Rev.  Wm.  S.  Nelson,  D.  D.  Oct.  31,  1888 

127.  Mrs.  Emma  H.  Nelson  .    .  Oct.  31,  1888 

128.  Rev.  Wm.  Scott  Watson     .  Oct.  5,  1889  June       8,  1892 

129.  Mrs.  Watson Oct.  5,  1889  June       8,  1892 

130.  Rev.  William  Jessup  .    .    .  Nov.  29,  1890 

131.  Mrs.  Faith  J.  Jessup    .    .    .  Nov.  29,  1890 

132.  Miss  Ellen  M.  Law     .    .    .  Nov.  28,  1892  Oct.      12,  1897 

133.  Rev.  George  C,  Doolittle    .  June  29,  1893 

134.  Mrs.  Carrie  S.  Doolittle  .    .  June  29,  1893 

135.  Miss  M.  Louise  Law  .    .    .  Oct.  16,  1893 

136.  Miss   Mary  P.  Eddy,  M.  D.  Dec.  23,  1895 

137.  Mr.  Edward  G.  Freyer  .    .  Feb.  11,  1895 

138.  Miss  Fanny  M.  Jessup    .    .  Aug.  17,  1895  April    26,  1902 

139.  Mrs.  Anna  Freyer  ....  Dec.  15,  1895 


8oo 


Appendix  I 


Names 

140.  Miss  Bernice  Hunting 

141.  Miss  Rachel  E.  ToUes 

142.  Rev.  Paul  Erdman  .    . 

143.  Mrs.  Amy  C.  Erdman 

144.  Miss  Ottora  M.  Home 

145.  Mr.  Stuart  D.  Jessup  . 

146.  Mrs.  Amy  C.  Jessup    . 

147.  Mrs.  Gertrude  B.  Erdman  . 

148.  Rev.  James  H.  Nicol  .    .    . 

149.  Mrs.  Reb.  McClure  Nicol  . 

150.  Mrs.  Katherine  B.  Ford     . 

151.  Rev.  James  B.  Brown     .    . 

152.  Miss  Ara  Elsie  Harris,  M.  D. 

153.  Miss  Jane  B.  Beekman 

(Mrs.  J.  B.  Brown)  .    .    . 


Time 
of  Entering 


Time 
of  Leaving 


Oct. 

Oct. 

Oct. 

Oct. 

Dec. 

Sept. 

Sept. 

Nov. 

Nov. 

Nov. 

Dec. 

Dec. 

Aug. 


19,  1896 

2,  1899 
30,  1900 
30,  1900 
19, 1902 

19,  1904 
19, 1904 

20,  1905 
20,  1905 
20,  1905 

3,  1906 

3.  J907 
24,  1908 


Date 

of  Death 


Dec.      2, 1901 


Dec.      30,  1908 


Appendix  II 
The  History — Bibliography 

In  writing  the  history  of  the  Syria  Mission  I  have  consulted 

The  Memoirs  of  Pliny  Fisk — Edinburgh,  1829. 

The  manuscript  journal  of  Levi  Parsons — 1820- 1 822. 

Bible  Work  in  Bible  Lands,  by  Rev.  Isaac  Bird — Presbyterian  Board  of  Publica- 
tion, 1872. 

Missions  to  the  Oriental  Churches,  Rev,  R.  Anderson — Boston,  1872. 

Missionary  Herald — 18 19-1870  in  loco. 

The  Foreign  Missionary — 

Church  at  Home  and  Abroad — 1870- 1908. 

Assembly  Herald — 

Science  and  Missions,  T.  Laurie — A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  Boston,  1882. 

Churchill's  Druses  and  Maronites — Quaritch,  London,  1862. 

Forty  Years  in  the  Turkish  Empire — W.  Goodell,  Carter's,  1876. 

Among  the  Turks,  C.  Hamlin — Carter's,  1878. 

Religions  of  Syria,  J.  Wortabet — Nisbit  &  Co.,  i860. 

Martyr  of  Lebanon,  Rev.  L  Bird — American  Tract  Society,  1864. 

The  Marquis  of  Dufferin  and  Ava,  C.  E.  D.  Black — Hutchinson  &  Co.,  London. 

Life  and  Letters  of  Rev.  D.  Temple,  D.  H.  Temple — Boston,  1855. 

Kamil,  H.  H.  Jessup — Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication,  1899. 

Encyclopedia  of  Missions — Funk  &  Wagnalls,  1904. 

Modern  Egypt,  Lord  Cromer — London,  1908. 

The  Emancipation  of  Woman  in  Egypt  (Arabic)  by  Kasim  Beg  Amin,  Judge  in 
Cairo,  Egypt. 

The  New  Woman  (Arabic)  by  the  same  author. 

Dr.  Michaiel  Meshaka's  "  Mashhadul  Aiyan,"  (Arabic).  A  history  of  his  life 
and  times  from  1820  to  1873 — Helal  Press,  Cairo. 


80X 


Appendix  III 

(a)    List  of  American  Medical  Missionaries  in  the   Syria 
Mission,  1 833- 1909 


Name 

Location 

Time  0/ 
Arrival 

Death 

Length  of 
Service 

I 

Asa  Dodge,  M.  D. 

Jerusalem 

Feb.    24, 

Jan.  28, 

I  yr.,  II  mos.. 

1833 

1835 

4  days 

2 

Cornelius  V.  A.  Van 

Beirut 

April   12, 

Nov.  13, 

56  yrs.,  7  mos., 

Dyck,  M.  D„  D.  D,, 

Jerusaleni 

1839 

1895 

II  days 

L.  H.  D. 

Abeih  Station, 
Beirut 

3 

Henry     A.     DeFor- 

Beirut 

Mar.  23, 

Nov.  24, 

12  yrs.,  I  mo,, 

est,  M.  D. 

1842 

1858,  in 
Rochester, 

N.Y. 

15  days 

4 

George  E.  Post,  M.D,, 

Tripoli 

Nov.  28, 

Sept.  29, 

4  years  in 

D.  D.  S.,  LL.  D. 

Beirut 

1863 

1909 

Mission, 

42  years  in 

College 

5, 

Galen    B.   Danforth, 

Tripoli 

Nov,  9, 

July  9. 

3  years. 

M.D. 

1871 

1875 

8  months 

6 

Chas.  Wm.  Calhoun, 

Tripoli 

July,  1879 

June  22, 

3  years. 

M.D. 

1883 

II  months 

7 

Ira  Harris,  M.  D. 

Tripoli 

Dec.  18, 
1883 

8 

Mary  Pierson  Eddy, 

Sidon 

Dec.  23, 

M.D, 

Ma'amiltein 
Shebaniyeh 

1893 

9 

Ara  Elsie  Harris.M.  D. 

Tripoli 

Aug.  24, 
1908 

(6)  Other  Medical  Agencies  in  Palestine  and  Syria 

ACRE.— Church     Missionary     Society.      Hospital    and     Dispensary.      Rev.    S. 

Gould,  M.  D. 
ALEPPO Presbyterian  Church  of  England's  Mission  to  the  Jews.     Dispensary. 

Dr.  Charles  C,  Piper, 
ANTILYAS.— Dispensary.     Dr.  B.  J.  Manasseh. 
ANTIOCH.— Reformed  Presbyterian  Mission  of  Ireland  and  Scotland.     Rev,  James 

Martin,  M.A.,  M.D.,  M.  Ch. 

3o3 


Appendix  III  803 

ASFURIYEH. — Near  Beirut,  Lebanon  Asylum  for  the  Insane.     Dr.   H.  Watson 

Smith. 
BETHLEHEM Swedish  Society.     Dr.  Ribbing. 

BAAKLEEN. — Lebanon  and  Palestine  Nurses'  Mission.  Cottage  Hospital  and 
Dispensary.     Dr.  Alameddin. 

BEIRUT. — Hospital.  Knights  of  the  Johanniter  Order  of  Germany  and  Deacon- 
esses of  Kaiserswerth.  Rev.  G.  E.  Post,  M.  D.,  D.  D.  S.,  LL.  D. ;  Dr.  Harris 
Graham ;  Dr.  W.  B.  Adams,  M.  A. ;  Rev.  C.  A.  Webster,  M.  D. ;  Dr.  Franklin 
T.  Moore,  M.  A. ;  Dr.  Harry  G.  Dorman,  Syrian  Protestant  College  Hospitals, 
Women's  Hospital,  Dr.  Franklin  T.  Moore.  Children's  Hospital,  Dr.  H.  G. 
Dorman.  Eye  and  Ear  Hospital,  Dr.  C.  A.  Webster.  Training-School  for 
Nurses,  Mrs.  Gerald  F.  Dale,  and  Miss  J.  E.  Van  Zandt. 

BRUMMANA. — Friends'  Foreign  Mission  Association.  Hospital  and  Dispensary. 
Dr.  A.  J.  Manasseh. 

DAMASCUS. — Edinburgh  Medical  Missionary  Society.  Victoria  Hospital  and 
Dispensary.     Dr.  F.  Mackinnon ;  Dr.  Turnbull. 

DEIR  ATEEYEH.— Danish  Orient  Mission.     Dr.  Fox-Maule. 

GAZA. — Church  Missionary  Society.  Hospital  and  Dispensary.  Rev,  R.  B.  Ster- 
ling, M.  D. ;  Dr.  P.  Brigstocke. 

HAIFA. — Jerusalem  and  the  East  Mission.     Hospital  and  Dispensary.     Dr.  Donald 

Coles. 
HEBRON.— United  Free  Church  of  Scotland  Palestine  Jewish  Mission.     Hospital 

and  Dispensary.     Dr.  A.  Paterson. 

IM  EL  FAHM. — Palestine  Village  Mission  and  Medical  Work. 

JAFFA. — Church  Missionary  Society  Hospital  and  Dispensary.     Dr.  Melville  Keith. 

Dr.  Fuleihan. 
JERUSALEM. — The  London  Society  for  Promoting  Christianity  amongst  the  Jews, 

Hospital  and  two  Dispensaries,  Dispensary  at  Siloam.     Dr.  P.  D'erf  Wheeler ; 

Dr.  E.  W.  G.  Masterman ;  Dr.  Maxwell. 

Moravian  Leper  Asylum.     Jesus  Hilf  House. 

Ophthalmic  Hospital.     English  Knights  of  St.  John.     Dr.  Cant. 

Hospital  and  Dispensary.     Knights  of  the  Johanniter  Order  of  Germany  and 

Deaconesses  of  Kaiserswerth.     Dr,  Grussdorf,  •■ 

KERAK, — Church  Missionary  Society,     Dr,  F.  Johnson. 

LATAKIA. — Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  of  America.  Hospital  and  Dis- 
pensary.    Dr.  J.  M.  Balph. 

LYDDA English  Dispensary.     Dr.  H,  Salim. 

NAB  LUS.— Church  Missionary  Society.  Hospital  and  Dispensary.  Dr.  G.  R.  M. 
Wright ;  Dr,  Griffiths. 


8o4  Appendix  III 

NAZARETH. — Edinburgh  Medical  Missionary  Society.     Dispensary,     Dr.  F.  J. 

Scrimgeour. 
SAFED. — United  Free  Church  of  Scotland  Mission.     Dispensary.     Dr.  G.  "Wilson. 

London  Society  for  Promotion  of  Christianity  amongst  the  Jews.     Hospital  and 

Dispensary.     Dr.  W.  H.  Anderson. 
ES  SALT. — Church  Missionary  Society  Hospital.     Dr.  N.  Kawar. 
TIBERIAS. — United  Free  Church  of  Scotland  Mission.     Hospital  and  Dispensary. 

Rev.  D.  Torrance,  M.  D. 


(c)    Medical  Mission  Work  of  the  American  Presbyterian 
Mission  in  Syria,  1Q09 

TRIPOLI.— Dr.  Ira  Harris  and  Miss  Ara  Elsie  Harris,  M.  D,  Hospital  and  Dis- 
pensary in  the  Meena. 

SHWEIR,  MOUNT  LEBANON.— Rev.  Wm.  Carslaw,  M.  D.,  and  Dr.  Haddad. 
Dispensary. 

MA'AMILTEIN.— Miss  Mary  Pierson  Eddy,  M.  D.,  Wallace  Ophthalmic  Hospital 
and  Dispensary.  Dr.  Eddy  has  also  oversight  of  an  independent  summer  Sana- 
torium for  Consumptives  at  Shebaniyeh,  and  a  projected  winter  home  near 
Ma'amiltein. 


Appendix  IV 

1903.     List  of  Mission  Schools  of  the  Presbyterian  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions  in  Vilayets  of  Beirut  and  Damascus 


V 

Permanent 

Town 

Common  School 
unless  indicated 

Date  of 
Establish- 
ment 

Buildings 

owned  by 

Americans. 

When 

erected 

Vilayet 

Beirut 

I  Boys'  school 

1841 

Beirut 

« 

I  Girls'  school 

1833 

« 

M 

I  Girls'  Boarding- 
school 

1845 

1866 

" 

« 

Syrian   Protestant 
College 

1866 

I 870- I 909 

« 

M 

Theological  Semi- 
nary 

1862 

« 

Belat 

I 

1858 

" 

Deir  Mimas 

2 

1861 

1864 

i( 

Ibl  es  Saki 

I 

1852 

1866 

« 

Judaideh 

4  ( I  High  School) 

1851 

1873 

4< 

Khirbeh 

I 

1865 

<( 

Khiyam 

I 

1852 

1864 

U 

Quleiaah 

I 

1858 

« 

Safad  el  Buttikh 

I 

1885 

« 

Abra 

I 

1866 

« 

Jubaa  Halawi 

I 

1866 

« 

Qureiyyeh 

I 

1885 

« 

Mughdusheh 

I 

1882 

1903 

« 

Maamariyeh 

I 

1888 

« 

Miyeh  wa  Miyeh 

I 

1880 

1890 

« 

Mujeidil 

I 

1885 

« 

Sidon 

I  Boys'  school 

1852 

1864 

(f 

« 

Seminary  for  girls 

1876 

1875 

« 

« 

Gerard  Institute 
(boys) 

1882,  1909 

« 

« 

Dar  es  Salaam  Or- 
phanage (boys) 
Common  school  for 

1900 

« 

« 

1852 

« 

girls 

Alma 

I 

1850 

1858 

« 

Qana 

I 

1850 

1864 

M 

Tibnin 

I 

1857 

« 

Tyre 

2 

1853 

(4 

PiW 

I 

1880 

(< 

805 


8o6 


Appendix  IV 


Permanent 

Town 

Common  School 
unless  indicated 

Date  of 
Establish- 
ment 

Buildings 

cnvtied  by 

Americans. 

When 

erected 

Vilayet 

Safed 

I 

i88o 

Beirut 

Bussah 

I 

i88o 

Tripoli 

Girls'  boarding- 
school 

1873 

1876 

« 

« 

Boys'  boarding- 
school 

1900 

« 

« 

Boys'  day-school 

1854 

« 

<i 

Girls'  day-school 

1856 

« 

« 

El  Meena  day-school 

1854 

1886 

« 

Amar 

I 

1879 

1883 

« 

El  Kaimeh 

I 

1880 

« 

Hab  Numera 

I 

1874 

« 

Khareibeh 

I 

1872 

« 

Marmarita 

I 

1875 

" 

El  Mozeibeleh 

I 

1890 

« 

Ain  Barideh 

I 

1890 

« 

Kefi-  Ram 

I 

1890 

«« 

Beit  Sabat 

I 

1890 

« 

El  Yazidiyeh 

I 

1890 

" 

Beinu 

I 

1866 

1883 

« 

Jaar 

I 

1874 

« 

Minyara 

2 

1888 

1888 

" 

Sheikh  Mohammed 

I 

1869 

<( 

Bezbina 

I 

1890 

" 

Meshta  el  Helu 

2 

1879 

«• 

Safita 

2 

1864 

" 

Hasbeiya 

I 

1844 

1854 

Damascus 

Khureibeh 

I 

1876 

« 

Kefeir 

2 

1857 

1881 

<< 

El  Mary 

I 

1876 

" 

Mimis 

I 

1863 

i< 

Rasheyyet  Fukkhar 

2 

185 1 

1865 

" 

Shibaa 

I 

1857 

«« 

Ain  Qunyet  Banias 

I 

1858 

1880 

i< 

Mejdel  Shems 

2 

1858 

1873 

« 

Hamath 

2 

1874 

" 

Barsheen 

I 

1902 

« 

Mahardee 

I 

1884 

<< 

Hums 

3  (I  High  School) 

1859 

1870 

" 

Feiruzeh 

I 

1890 

« 

Im  Dulab 

I 

1890 

«< 

Baalbek 

I 

1874 

1884 

i< 

Ain  Burdhai 

I 

1878 

« 

Beit  Shama 

I 

1868 

« 

Deir  el  Ghazelle 

I 

1861 

1880 

<( 

Hadeth 

I 

1882 

« 

Howsh  Barada 

I 

1890 

« 

Kefr  Zebd 

I 

1861 

« 

Qusaiya 

I 

1873 

« 

Appendix  IV 


807 


Permanent 

Town 

Common  School 
unless  indicated 

Date  of 
Establish- 
ment 

Buildings 

owned  by 

Americans. 

When 

erected 

Vilayet 

Ras  Baalbek 

I 

1884 

Damascus 

Schlifa 

I 

1878 

II 

Timnin  el  Foka 

I 

1888 

« 

Tullya 

2 

1861 

<< 

Aitanith 

I 

1868 

1878 

« 

Ammiuk 

I 

187 1 

« 

Furzul 

2 

1868 

« 

Jedeitha 

2 

1870 

1877 

« 

Khirbeh 

I 

1875 

« 

Meshghara 

2 

1869 

1884 

« 

Moallakah 

2 

1868 

1877 

« 

Quabb  Elias 

2 

1872 

«« 

QuraGn 

2 

1870 

« 

Sughbin 

I 

1870 

1873 

« 

Mission  Schools  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions   in  the  Mutserfiyet  of  Lebanon 


Place 

No.  of 
Schools 

Date  of 
Establish- 
ment 

Permanent  Build- 
ings 07vned  by 
Americans. 
When  erected 

District 

Ghurzuz 

1858 

1882 

Kesrawan 

El  Munsif 

1889 

Sheikhan 

1890 

Kisba 

1871 

Kura 

Bishmazin 

1867 

Kefr  Hazir 

1890 

Bterram 

1874 

Enfeh 

1878 

Batrun 

1881 

Batrun 

Karm  Saddy 

1902 

Duma 

1876 

Jezzin 

1881 

Jezzin 

Room 

1881 

Maghdoosheh 

1882 

1903 

Berta 

1856 

Miyeh  wa  Miyeh 

1880 

1890 

Salhiyeh 

1870 

Kaituly 

1905 

Kurayyeh 

1884 

Kefr  Jerrah 

1880 

8o8 


Appendix  IV 


Date  of 
Establish- 

Permanent Build- 

Place 

No.  of 
Schools 

ings  07vned  by 
Americans. 

District 

ment 

When  erected 

Mejdaluna 

I 

1850 

Shuf 

Joon 

I 

1850 

« 

Jemaliyeh 

I 

1890 

<i 

Aleih 

2 

1842 

1850 

<i 

Komatiyeh 

I 

1904 

« 

Abeih 

2 

1844 

1850 

(1 

Ainab 

I 

1842 

« 

Ain  Anub 

2 

1842 

If 

Ain  Zehalteh 

I 

1850 

i860 

« 

Aramoon 

I 

1844 

« 

Baaklin 

2 

1868 

« 

Ghareefeh 

I 

1890 

« 

Metulleh 

I 

1878 

« 

Bhamdoun 

I 

1848 

1870 

<4 

Bshamoon 

I 

1842 

« 

Deir  el  Komr 

2 

1858 

1895 

« 

Deir  Kobel 

I 

1858 

« 

Dibbiyeh 

I 

1863 

1870 

" 

Rishmaiya 

2 

1897 

« 

Shwifat 

2 

1863 

(1 

Suk  el  Gharb 

2 

•853 

1870 

i< 

Ma'amiltein 

I 

1905 

Kesravvan 

Shweir 

3 

1865 

1875 

Metn 

Ain  Sindianeh 

I 

1865 

« 

Khunshareh 

I 

1905 

" 

Btughrin 

I 

1865 

« 

Kefr  Akab 

I 

1865 

« 

Kefr  Shima 

I 

1847 

« 

Hadeth 

I 

1853 

« 

Zahleh 

3 

1868 

1875 

Zahleh 

Appendix  V 

Outline    of   the    History   of    the    Syria   Mission    of   the 

American  Presbyterian  Church  and  Contemporary 

Events,  1820  to  1900 

First  Period — 1820  to  1840 

Turkish  Sultan,  Mahmoud  II,  1808- 1839. 

A  period  of  exploration  and  preparation,  intolerance,  persecution,  banishment, 
wars  and  pestilence. 

1822 — The  American  Press  founded  in  Malta. 

1834 — The  Press  removed  to  Beirut. 

The  principal  missionaries  were  Pliny  Fisk  and  Levi  Parsons,  arrived  in  1820; 
Dr.  Jonas  King,  1822;  Dr.  William  Goodell,  translator  of  the  Scriptures  into 
Armeno-Turkish,  1823;  Rev.  Isaac  Bird,  author  of  "  Bible  Work  in  Bible  Lands," 
1823 ;  Dr.  Eli  Smith,  who  began  the  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  Arabic, 
1827  ;  and  Dr.  Wm.  M.  Thomson,  author  of"  The  Land  and  the  Book." 

October  20,  1827 — Naval  battle  of  Navarino,  destruction  of  the  Turkish  fleet  by 
the  allied  English,  French  and  Russian  fleets. 

1826 — The  first  Protestant  martyr,  Asaad  es  Shidiak,  starved  to  death  in  the 
Maronite  Monastery  of  Kannobin,  by  order  of  the  Maronite  Patriarch. 

1828 — War  with  England  expected,  missionaries  fled  to  Malta. 

1830 — Armenia  explored  by  Dr.  Eli  Smith  and  Dr.  H.  G.  O.  Dwight. 

1830 — The  first  girls'  schools  ever  opened  in  the  Turkish  Empire  commenced  by 
Mrs.  Bird  and  Mrs.  Goodell  in  Beirut  and  Mount  Lebanon. 

1830— When  the  missionaries  returned  from  Malta  to  Beirut  one  small  rowboat 
came  out  to  meet  them,  containing  the  entire  Protestant  community  of  the  Turkish 
Empire,  viz.,  five  persons.     (Now,  in  1900,  about  75,000.) 

1834 — Mrs.  Eli  Smith  opened  school  for  girls  in  Beirut. 

1835 — Boys'  Seminary  in  Beirut  with  six  pupils. 

The  Greek  war,  the  plague,  the  invasion  of  Ibrahim  Pasha,  son  of  Mohammed 
Ali,  Pasha  of  Egypt  (1825-1830),  and  the  disturbed  state  of  the  country,  rendered 
continuous  missionary  labour  impossible. 

Protestant  Christianity  a  religio  illicita. 

809 


8io  Appendix  V 

Second  Period — 1840  to  i860 

September,  1840 — From  the  expulsion  of  Ibrahim  Pasha  by  the  allied  English, 
Austrian  and  Turkish  fleets,  to  the  civil  war  and  massacres  of  i860. 
Turkish  Sultan,  Abdul  Medjid,  1839-1861. 
The  Turks  restored  to  Syria. 

Protestantism  recognized  by  the  Turkish  Sultan  as  one  of  the  religions  of  the 
empire. 

1840 — Boys'  Boarding-School  in  Beirut  under  Mr.  Hebard. 

November,  1841 — Civil  war  in  Lebanon  between  the  Druses  and  Maronites. 

March,  1844 — The  Sultan  Abdul  Medjid  issued  a  firman  that  Christians  of  all 
sects  are  not  to  be  insulted  nor  to  be  persecuted  for  their  religion. 

1845 — Civil  war  again  in  Lebanon.     Missionaries  ordered  down  to  Beirut. 

1846 — Boys'  Boarding-School  opened  in  Abeih  by  Dr.  Van  Dyck.  Girls'  Board- 
ing-School in  Beirut  by  Dr.  and  Mrs.  De  Forest. 

1847 — The  Protestant  "  Charter  of  Rights  "  was  issued  by  the  Grand  Vizier  in 
Constantinople.     (See  Goodell's  "  Forty  Years  in  the  Turkish  Empire.") 

1848 — The  first  Syrian  Evangelical  Church  organized  in  Beirut  with  eighteen 
members. 

1849 — New  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  Arabic  language  begun  by  Rev.  Eli 
Smith,  D.  D.,  assisted  by  Mr.  Butrus  Bistany. 

1850 — The  previous  Protestant  "Charter  of  Rights"  being  only  Vizierial,  the 
Sultan  Abdul  Medjid  issued  an  Imperial  Firman,  called  the  "  Imperial  Protestant 
Charter  of  Rights,"  guaranteeing  to  the  Protestants  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
the  other  Christian  sects  in  the  empire. 

1853 — First  steam  printing-press  set  up  in  Beirut. 

1853-1855— .Crimean  war.     British  influence  predominant. 

1854 — Commenced  printing  new  translation  of  Genesis. 

February,  1857 — The  famous  Hatti  Hamaiyoun  or  Imperial  Edict,  or  guarantee 
of  religious  liberty,  announces  that  no  Mohammedan  becoming  a  Christian  shall  be 
put  to  death. 

1857 — Four  evangelical  churches  in  Syria  with  seventy-five  members. 

January  11,  1857— Death  of  Dr.  Eli  Smith. 

February,  1857 — Translation  of  the  Bible  continued  by  Rev.  Cornelius  V.  A.  Van 
Dyck,  M.  D.,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  assisted  by  the  Mufti,  Sheikh  Yusef  Asir,  graduate  of 
the  Azhar  University  in  Cairo. 

1858 — American  Boarding-School  for  Girls  in  Suk  el  Gharb,  Mount  Lebanon. 

Third  Period— 1860  to  1880 
Light  out  of  darkness.     From  the  civil  war  and  massacres  of  i860  to  the  dedica- 
tion of  the  Gerald  F.  Dale,  Jr.,  Memorial  Sunday-School  Hall  in  Beirut. 


Appendix  V  8ll 

1860-1861 — Sultan  Abdul  Medjid. 
1 86 1 -1876 — Sultan  Abdul  Aziz. 
1876-1899 — Sultan  Abdul  Hamid. 

March  29,  i860 — Translation  and  printing  of  Arabic  Reference  New  Testament 
completed  by  Dr.  Van  Dyck.     A  pocket  edition  in  April. 

April  to  July  9,  i860 — Civil  war  between  the  Druses  and  Maronites  in  Lebanon, 
followed  by  bloody  massacres  in  Lebanon,  Hasbeiya  and  Damascus. 

August  and  September,  i860 — Twenty  thousand  refugees  receiving  aid  from  the 
Anglo-American  and  German  Relief  Committee  in  Beirut.  The  missionaries  spent 
four  months  feeding  the  hungry  and  clothing  the  needy.  One  hundred  thousand 
garments  distributed,  and  ;i/^30,ooo  given  in  relief. 

August,  i860,  to  November,  1861 — Occupation  of  Syria  for  nine  months  by  6,000 
French  troops,  on  behalf  of  the  European  Powers,  and  a  fleet  of  twenty-five  British 
line  of  battle-ships,  with  the  consent  of  the  Sultan. 

Increase  of  European  and  Christian  interest  in  Syria.  New  educational  and 
benevolent  institutions  founded. 

October,  i860 — British  Syrian  Schools  and  Bible  Mission  founded  by  Mrs.  Bowen 
Thompson.  These  schools  have  now  fifty-one  schools  and  4,000  children  in  Syria, 
chiefly  girls. 

October,  i860 — Prussian  Deaconesses  of  Kaiserswerth  found  an  orphanage  for 
girls  in  Beirut,  with  130  orphans.  Up  to  this  date,  1900,  they  have  trained  about 
1,000  girls. 

June  10,  1861 — Anew  government  instituted  in  Lebanon  under  a  Latin  Christian 
Pasha,  appointed  with  the  approval  of  the  six  European  Powers. 

July  18,  1861 — Daoud  Pasha  inaugurated  as  Governor-General  of  Lebanon.  His 
successors  have  been : 

Franco  Pasha 1867-1871 

Rustum  Pasha 1871-1881 

Wassa  Pasha 1881-1890 

Naoum  Pasha 1890-1900 

"         "         1900-1905 

Muzaffar  Pasha 1905-1907 

Yusef  Pasha '907+ 

1862 — American  Female  Seminary  reopened  in  Beirut. 
October,  1862 — Suk  Girls'  Boarding-School  transferred  to  Sidon. 
January  27,  1862 — The  Syria  Mission  voted  to  establish  a  college  in  Beirut,  with 
Rev.  Daniel  Bliss  as  president. 

1863 — The  Syrian  Protestant  College  was  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  of  the 
State  of  New  York. 

March  lo,  1865 — Celebration  of  the  completion  of  the  Arabic  translation  of  the 
Old  Testament,  thus  completing  the  new  Arabic  Bible. 


8i2  Appendix  V 

June,  1865 — Dr.  Van  Dyck  left  for  New  York  and  superintended  the  electro- 
typing  of  the  Arabic  Bible,  duplicate  plates  being  deposited  with  the  Bible  Societies 
in  New  York  and  London,  and  in  the  vaults  of  the  American  Press  in  Beirut. 

October,  1865 — The  College  formally  opened  in  Beirut  with  sixteen  students. 
Number  of  students  in  1880,  124.  In  this  period  Mrs.  E.  H.  Watson,  under  the 
Society  for  Promoting  Female  Education  in  the  East,  opened  a  Girls'  Boarding- 
School  in  Mount  Lebanon. 

The  Lebanon  Schools  Committee,  of  Scotland,  opened  Boys'  and  Girls'  Boarding- 
Schools  in  Suk  el  Gharb  and  afterwards  in  Shweir,  Mount  Lebanon.  The  Kirk  of 
Scotland  Jewish  Committee  instituted  schools  and  a  chaplaincy  in  Beirut.  Miss 
Taylor  opened  the  St,  George's  School  for  Moslem  and  Druse  Girls  in  Beirut. 

1869 — Imperial  press  and  school  laws  promulgated,  establishing  a  severe  censor- 
ship over  all  books  and  newspapers. 

May,  1868— American  Theological  Seminary  opened  in  Abeih,  with  Drs.  Cal- 
houn, W.  W.  Eddy,  and  H.  H.  Jessup,  as  instructors, 

1870 — The  Syria  Mission  was  transferred  from  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  of  Boston,  to 
the  American  Presbyterian  Board  of  Missions. 

December  7,  1871 — Corner-stone  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  laid  by  the 
Hon.  Wm.  E,  Dodge,  of  New  York. 

1873 — American  Female  Seminary  opened  in  Tripoli,  Syria, 

November,  1873 — Theological  Seminary  transferred  to  Beirut. 

May,  1875 — ^°2  River  Water  introduced  into  Beirut. 

August  31,  1876 — Accession  of  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid. 

April,  1877 — Russia  declares  war  against  Turkey. 

1877-1878 — Great  Circassian  deportation  from  Bulgaria  to  Syria. 

1877 — Mohammedan  Society  of  Benevolent  Intentions  opened  schools  for  girls  in 
Beirut,  Damascus,  Tripoli  and  Aleppo. 

Greeks,  Papal  Greeks,  Maronites  and  Jews  opened  schools  for  boys  and  girls. 

Multiplication  of  newspapers  and  books. 

Society  of  Friends  founded  a  mission,  hospital  and  schools  at  Brummana,  Mount 
Lebanon,  under  Theophilus  Waldmeier. 

Fourth  Period^i88o  to  igoi 

December  19,  1880— From  the  dedication  of  the  Gerald  F.  Dale  Memorial  Sun- 
day-School Hall  in  Beirut  to  the  present  time. 

Growth  of  all  departments  of  Protestant  missionary  work,  medical,  educational, 
publication  and  evangelistic. 

Beirut  becomes  the  literary  centre  of  Syria. 

1887— The  Mejlis  el-Maarif,  or  Board  of  Public  Instruction  of  His  Imperial 
Majesty  the  Sultan,  the  Caliph  of  Mohammed,  placed  the  seal  of  authorization  upon 
thirty-three  different  editions  of  the  Arabic  Scriptures  and  parts  of  Scriptures. 


Appendix  V  813 

The  Local  Board  in  Damascus  also  approved  330  different  Arabic  publications  of 
the  American  Press  in  Beirut. 

April  8,  1894— Death  of  Rev.  Wm.  M.  Thomson,  D.  D.,  author  of  "The  Land 
and  the  Book,"  in  Denver,  Colorado,  aged  eighty-nine. 

November  13,  1895— Death  of  Rev.  C.  V.  A.  Van  Dyck,  M.  D.,  D.  D.,  LL,  D., 
in  Beirut,  aged  seventy-seven  years. 

July,  1895 — Railway  opened  from  Beirut  to  Damascus  and  Hauran. 

1 896- 1 897 — Prince  Gargarin,  Director  of  the  Russian  Schools  in  Syria  and 
Palestine,  orders  the  Arabic  Scriptures  to  be  used  in  all  their  schools. 

During  this  period  the  Syrians  of  the  various  Christian  sects  have  begun  to 
emigrate  in  vast  numbers  to  Egypt,  Australia,  and  North  and  South  America.  Not 
less  than  75,000  have  gone,  and  others  are  preparing  to  go.  The  young,  industrious, 
ambitious,  and  educated  classes  are  going  to  seek  to  better  their  condition.  In- 
security for  life  and  property  in  the  interior  and  want  of  employment  are  driving 
them  away. 

January  28,  1900— Death  of  Rev.  W.  W.  Eddy,  D.  D.,  in  Beirut,  aged  seventy- 
four  years. 

1900 — The  whole  number  of  children  in  Protestant  Schools  in  Syria  and  Palestine 
is  about  18,000,  of  whom  one-half  are  girls. 

The  number  of  Protestants  enrolled  as  a  civil  sect  is  about  7,000. 

Number  of  Scriptures  issued  since  i860,  600,000. 

Whole  number  of  pages  printed  at  the  American  Press  from  the  beginning  is  about 
650,000,000. 

There  are  sixteen  Arabic  Journals  in  Beirut : — one  Turkish  official,  four  Protestant, 
two  Mohammedan,  two  Greek,  four  Maronite,  one  Independent,  two  Jesuit. 

Four  Hospitals  have  been  founded  since  i860: — St.  John's,  Protestant  (Knights 
of  St.  John,  Berlin) ;  St.  Joseph's,  Papal ;  St.  George's,  Orthodox  Greek ;  and  the 
Beirut  Municipality  Hospital. 

The  Syrian  Protestant  College  has  434  Students,  sixteen  American  Professors  and 
Tutors,  two  French  Adjunct  Professors,  one  Syrian  Adjunct  Professor,  and  nine 
Syrian  Tutors.     (See  pp.  816-817.) 

Its  graduates  number,  in  the  Preparatory  Department,  309 ;  Collegiate  Depart- 
ment, 169;  in  Medicine,  163;  and  in  Pharmacy,  fifty-eight. 

It  has  ten  stone  buildings,  a  large  library,  an  astronomical  observatory  with  a 
refractor  of  twelve  inches  aperture  and  fifteen  feet  focal  length,  extensive  scientific 
cabinets  and  collections,  apparatus  and  laboratories. 

In  the  American  Cemetery,  adjoining  the  American  Press  in  Beirut,  are  the 
graves  of  Pliny  Fisk,  died  1826,  Dr.  Eli  Smith,  Dr.  Van  Dyck,  Dr.  C.  W.  Calhoun, 
Rev.  Gerald  F.  Dale,  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  W.  Eddy,  and  others. 

In  the  Female  Seminary,  in  the  rear  of  the  Church,  can  be  seen  the  upper  room 
in  which  the  Bible  was  translated  into  the  Arabic,  during  a  period  of  sixteen  years. 
A  tablet  commemorating  the  fact  was  placed  in  the  wall  by  President  D.  C.  Gilman, 
of  Johns  Hopkins  University. 


Appendix  VI 
Figures,"  1908-1909 — Statistics  of  the  Syria  Mission 


EVANGELICAL  AND  GENERAL  MISSIONARY  WORK 


American    "»  Men 

Missionaries  j  Women      

Native       1  ^''^ained  pastors 

Syrian        I  Licensed  preachers 

Labourers   [Schoolteachers 

1.ABOURERS  J  Qjj^^j.  j^gjp^^g 

Stations      

Outstations 

Churches 

Church  buildings 

Added  on  profession  during  tlie  year 

Male  church-members 

Female  church-members 

Total  members  from  the  first 

Regular  preaching  places 

Average  congregations 

Sabbath-schools 

Sabbath  scholars 

Syrian  Protestant  community  (within   the  field  of  the 

American  Presbyterian  Mission) 

Contributions  of  native  communities,  including  tuition 

in  boarding-schools  and  seminaries 


1876 


1908 


i3| 
'5/ 

28 

is}^' 

^1 

10  ■ 
II 

96  f 

120 

sj 

5 

4 

60 

97 

10 

34 

24 

57 

75 

134 

3641 
209/ 

573 

2,744 

— 

4,792 

61 

97 

2,642 

6,025 

40 

86 

1.540 

5.831 

2,982 

7.553 

^1,252 

M9.536 

EDUCATIONAL  WORK 


Theological  seminary       ,    , 

Pupils  in  seminary 

Boys'  boarding-schools 

Pupils  in  boarding-schools       

Female  seminaries . 

Pupils  in  seminaries 

High  schools 

Pupils  in  high  schools      

Common  schools 

Boys  in  schools 

Girls  in  schools         

Total  schools 

Total  pupils       

Adult  females  in  Bible  classes    .  ... 

814 


1876 


1908 


I 

I 

7 

— 

I 

4 

42 

577 

3 

3 

89 

298 

2 

2 

29 

100 

71 

ic6 

2,031  ■) 
819/ 

2,850 

tS}«°9 

8 

116 

359 

5,688 

350 

Appendix  VI 

SCHOOLS  IN  BEIRUT,  1909 


815 


■52 

►Si  t 

Boys 

Girls 

3l 

Moslem 

36 

29 

7 

99 

130 

2,965 

1.497 

4,462 

Non-Moslem    .... 

18 

15 

3 

106 

121 

1,686 

460 

2,146 

Foreign 

43 

23 

20 

120 

172 

3.720 

2,928 

6,648 

Moslem 

36 

29 

7 

99 

130 

2,965 

310 

4,462 

Catholic 

3 

3 

— 

37 

— 

392 

392 

Orthodox  Greek     .    . 

5 

3 

2 

17 

25 

367 

1,497 

677 

Maronite 

6 

6 

— 

40 

526 

526 

Jews 

2 

I 

I 

10 

17 

350 

150 

500 

Syriac 

2 

2 

— 

2 

— 

51 

— 

51 

French     

17 

14 

31 

Italian      ...... 

2 

I 

I 

Russian 

German 

5 
3 

— 

5  . 
3  f 

120 

172 

3.720 

2,928 

6,648 

American 

4 

3 

I 

English 

12 

5 

7} 

97 

67 

30 

325 

423 

8.371 

4,885 

13.256 

THE  AMERICAN  PRESS 
Founded  at  Malta,  1822,  and  at  Beirut,  1834. 
The  Arabic  Press  of  the  American  Mission  printed  during  the  two  years  : 

1898  1908 

Total  pages 28,085,564      44,589,571 

Of  which,  Scriptures  for  the  American  Bible  Society    .    .     18,516,000       30,507,000 

Volumes  of  Scriptures  distributed 64,539  101,000 

Total  pages  printed  from  the  first .625,671,085     923,345,755 

Volumes  of  Scriptures,  Including  Bibles,  Testaments  and  Portions,  Issued  by  the 
American  Bible  Society  in  Beirut 

1880  1908 

Distributed  in  Syria  Sold 4.779  9.843 

"          "       "     Granted "9  98 

Consigned  to  American  Mission,  Egypt 5,244  48,228 

"         "  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society 512  32,267 

"         "  U.  S.  A —  1.875 

Total 10,654     92,311 

Average  yearly  issues  1880- 1889     23,000 

"  "        "  1 890- 1 899    39,000 

«  ««        «  1 900- 1 908    64,051 


8i6  Appendix  VI 

PRESS  WORK,  PRINTING  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF 
BIBLES,  TRACTS,  ETC. 

1876  1908 

Bible  House  and  Press  Establishment I  i 


Steam  Presses 


3  5 


Hand  Presses 2  5 

Hydraulic  Press I  | 

Type  Foundry I  2 

Electrotype  Apparatus I  i 

Stereotype  Apparatus __  j 

Embossing  Presses I  2 

Hot  Rolling  Press I 

Cutting  Machines 2  2 

Press  Employees 44  62 

Publications  on  Press  Catalogue 207  692 

Volumes  printed  during  the  year 38,450  171,500 

Pages            "           "         «     "        13.786,980  44.589,571 

Of  which,  pages  of  Scriptures  for  the  American  Bible 

Society 4,277,500  30,507,000 

Of  which,  pages  of  Tracts 232,000 

Total  pages  from  the  beginning 159,810,300    923,345,755 

Scriptures  issued  during  the  year  by  the  American  Bible 

Society 5,641  92,311 

Other  Books  and  Tracts  sold  and  distributed 25,721  91,291 

Copies  of  Publications  of  all  kinds  issued  during  the  year  50,000  183,602 


SYRIAN  PROTESTANT  COLLEGE 

The  Syrian  Protestant  College,  situated  at  Beirut,  is  not  connected  with  any  Mis- 
sionary Society  or  helped  by  its  funds,  but  it  is  a  direct  outgrowth  of  the  Mission  in 
Syria,  and  is  closely  affiliated  with  the  Mission  and  related  to  its  work.  It  has  a 
magnificent  location,  and  in  its  Preparatory,  Collegiate,  Commercial,  Pharmaceutical 
and  Medical  Departments  it  has  870  students,  A  Training  School  for  Nurses  was 
established  in  1905  in  connection  with  the  College  Hospitals. 

The  corps  of  instruction  and  administration  numbers  seventy-four,  of  these  sixty- 
three  devote  all  or  some  of  their  time  to  teaching,  and  eleven  are  engaged  in  the 
conduct  of  the  business  affairs  of  the  institution.  Thirty-five  are  from  America ; 
twenty-five  are  Syrians ;  two  are  Greek ;  four  British ;  two  are  Italians ;  two  are 
Swiss  ;  3  are  Armenian ;  one  is  Austrian. 


Appendix  VI  817 

Students                                       1876  1890  1908 

Medical  Department      1  f  iij  \ 

Pharmacy  Department  f *'  45  \   36  j           '53 

Commercial  Department —  —  52 

Collegiate  Department 28  56  200 

Preparatory  Department 22  217  453 

Training  School  for  Nurses —                       —  12 

Total  77  318  870 

The  College  was  opened  in  Beirut  in  the  autumn  of  1866.  The  first  class  was 
graduated  in  1870.  The  Medical  Department  was  organized  and  opened  in  1867, 
the  Preparatory  Department  in  l87i,and  the  School  of  Commerce  in  October,  1900. 

The  College  property  is  situated  at  Ras  Beirut,  on  a  fine  site  overlooking  the  sea, 
the  city  of  Beirut,  and  the  long  range  of  Lebanon  Mountains.  It  includes  about 
forty  acres  of  land,  on  which  fourteen  buildings  have  been  erected  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  institution.  Of  these.  College  Hall  and  Medical  Hall  were  occupied  in 
the  autumn  of  1873,  the  others  having  been  erected  at  various  dates  since  that  time. 

Arabic  was  originally  the  language  of  instruction,  and  is  still  thoroughly  taught, 
but  English  was  substituted  in  the  Collegiate  Department  in  1880,  and  in  the  Medi- 
cal Department  in  1887. 


MEDICAL  WORK  OF  THE  COLLEGE 

I.     JOHANNITER  HOSPITAL 

The  Medical  Professors  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  have  been  for  thirty-six 
years  the  sole  medical  attendants  of  this  institution.  The  hospital  is  situated  on  the 
bluff  overlooking  the  Bay  of  St.  George,  in  a  terraced  park  of  about  four  acres. 
The  main  building  is  a  stately  edifice  with  a  central  block,  two  pavilion  wings  and 
a  rear  pavilion  connected  by  a  covered  glazed  corridor.  The  central  block  contains 
the  administration  department,  the  operating  room,  the  pathological  laboratory,  the 
kitchen  and  various  apartments,  and  on  its  best  ventilated  faces  a  number  of  wards, 
most  of  them  looking  out  on  the  sea  and  Mount  Lebanon.  The  lower  story  of  the 
rear  pavilion  is  the  chapel  erected  by  American  friends  of  the  noble  Johanniter 
Order  and  of  the  Deaconesses  of  Kaiserswerth.  The  upper  story  is  the  surgical 
ward  for  men,  and  is  a  model  of  its  kind,  having  windows  on  all  four  sides  and  the 
most  perfect  system  of  lighting  and  ventilation.  Another  building  furnishes  ac- 
commodations for  a  large  polyclinic,  another  is  isolated  for  contagious  diseases,  and 
still  others  for  laundry,  dead  house,  gate  house,  etc. 

The  institution  is  owned  and  supported  by  the  Johanniter  Order,  composed  of  the 
flower  of  the  Protestant  nobility  of  Germany,  with  the  son  of  the  Emperor  at  its 
head.  The  nursing  and  administrative  staff  is  furnished  by  the  Deaconesses  of 
Kaiserswerth.  The  edifying  spectacle  of  the  cooperation  of  two  such  institutions  as 
the  Johanniter  Hospital  and  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  is  a  striking  testimony  to 
ecumenical  Christianity  resting  upon  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  and  the  bond  of  peace. 


8i8  Appendix  VI 

1876  1908 

Indoor  patients 537  792 

Patients  treated  in  polyclinic  ...         9.162  13,821 

Total  days  of  treatment 17,500  21,024 

These  patients  come  from  all  parts  of  Syria,  Palestine,  Egypt,  Cyprus,  Asia 
Minor,  and  the  Greek  Islands,  They  are  Mohammedans,  Jews,  Druses  and  Chris- 
tians of  various  sects. 


2.     MARIA  DE  WITT  JESUP  FOUNDATION 

This  Foundation  consists  of  a  plot  of  about  four  acres  of  ground,  southeast  of  the 
College  campus,  on  which  is : 

(a)  A  structure  known  as  the  'Adm  House,  formerly  a  dwelling,  used  as  a 
Children's  Hospital  and  a  Training  School  for  Nurses.  In  this  building  there  were 
treated,  during  the  nine  months  of  the  college  year,  1 10  women  of  whom  ten  were 
labour  cases,  and  ninety-five  children.     The  days  of  treatment  were  6,500. 

(6)  A  Maternity  and  Woman's  Hospital  was  completed  in  1908,  with  a  capacity 
for  thirty-five  patients. 

(<r)  A  Children's  Hospital,  to  include  an  Orthopaedic  department,  with  accom- 
modations for  thirty  patients,  is  now  about  to  be  erected. 


3.     MARCELLUS  DODGE  EYE  AND  EAR  HOSPITAL 

A  commodious  building,  with  room  for  thirty-five  patients,  now  being  built  on 
ground  adjacent  to  the  Jesup  Foundation.  It  will  probably  be  ready  for  occupancy 
before  the  close  of  the  year. 


Appendix  VII 

Statistics  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  from 
1866  to   1906 

TABLE  I 
Showing  the  number  of  individual  students  who  have  graduated  from  one  or 
more  departments  of  the  college. 

Graduates  of  the  School  of  Medicine  (since  187 1)    .     .     .  330 

Graduates  of  the  School  of  Pharmacy  (since  1875)   •     •     •  162 
Graduates  of  the  School  of  Commerce  (since  1902)  ...         53 

Graduates  of  the  Collegiate  Department  (since  1870)    .     .  300 

Graduates  of  the  Preparatory  Department  (since  1883)     .  922 

1,767 


TABLE  II 

Showing  the  number  of  students  enrolled  each  year  from  the  foundation  of  the  college. 


Nurses' 

College 

Medicine 

Prep. 

Pharmacy 

Commerce 

Training 
School 

Total 

1866-67 

16 

__ 









16 

1867-68 

27 

14 

— 

— 

— 

— 

41 

1868-69 

31 

21 

— 

— 

— 

— 

52 

1869-70 

48 

29 

— 

— 

— 

— 

77 

1870-71 

54 

31 

— 

— 

— 

— 

85 

1871-72 

36 

25 

5 

— 

— 

— 

66 

1872-73 

39 

26 

19 

— 

— 

— 

84 

1873-74 

29 

27 

16 

2 

— 

— 

74 

1874-75 

31 

21 

13 

3 

— 

— 

68 

1875-76 

28 

26 

22 

I 

— 

— 

77 

1876-77 

34 

24 

47 

I 

— 

— 

106 

1877-78 

33 

21 

51 

3 

— 

— 

108 

1878-79 

25 

27 

67 

2 

— 

— 

121 

1879-80 

33 

36 

38 

I 

— 

— 

108 

1880-81 

29 

39 

51 

2 





121 

1881-82 

31 

46 

74 

I 

— 

— 

152 

1882-83 

37 

47 

86 



— 



170 

1883-84 

43 

33 

99 

3 

— 

— 

178 

1884-85 

56 

31 

96 

3 

— 

— 

186 

1885-86 

61 

30 

76 

I 

— 

— 

168 

8^9 


820 


Appendix  VII 


Nurses' 

College 

Medicine 

Prep. 

Pharmacy 

Commerce 

Training 
School 

Total 

1886-87 

66 

27 

75 

2 

— 



170 

1887-88 

70 

31 

78 

2 

— 

— 

181 

1888-89 

65 

Zl 

96 

5 

— 

— 

199 

1889-90 

56 

3! 

127 

7 

— 

— 

228 

1890-91 

57 

36 

102 

5 

— 

— 

200 

1891-92 

49 

38 

104 

5 

— 

— 

196 

1892-93 

49 

42 

139 

8 

— 

— 

238 

1893-94 

45 

49 

137 

II 

— 

— 

242 

1894-95 

65 

59 

139 

12 

— 

— 

275 

1895-96 

70 

56 

159 

12 

— 

— 

297 

1896-97 

72 

55 

172 

10 

— 

— 

309 

1897-98 

80 

49 

174 

IS 

— 

— 

318 

1898-99 

106 

50 

202 

20 

— 

— 

378 

I 899- I 900 

109 

62 

240 

24 

— 

— 

435 

1900-01 

109 

84 

315 

29 

14 

— 

551 

1901-02 

124 

109 

324 

28 

26 

— 

611 

1902-03 

121 

115 

328 

30 

35 

— 

629 

1903-04 

139 

129 

378 

26 

45 

— 

717 

1904-05 

146 

III 

425 

21 

47 

— 

750 

1905-06 

»53 

95 

450 

29 

37 

5 

769 

1906-07 

190 

102 

515 

27 

38 

6 

878 

1907-08 

186 

108 

449 

30 

52 

6 

^31 

1908-09 

201 

117 

455 

37 

52 

14 

876 

Index 


A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  turns  Syria  Mission  over 
to  Presbyterians,  yj-^et  seq. 

Abbas  Effendi,  head  of  Babism,  605  ;  his 
brother-in-law  converted,  605 

Abbott,  Mrs.  Maria,  49 ;  marries  Wm. 
M.  Thomson,  49 

Abcarius,  John,  499 

Abd  el  Kadir,  his  courage  and  human- 
ity, i<)6et  seq.,  201;  tribute  of  Prince 
Schamyl,  202  ;  visit  to  de  Lesseps,  264 

Abd  ul  Aziz,  Sultan,  267  ;  photographed, 
269  ;  deposed  449  ;  assassinated,  449 

Abdullah,  Asaad,  pastor,  577 

Abdul  Hamid  II,  Sultan,  succeeds 
Murad  V,  449  ;  decorates  M.  Bistany, 
484 

Abu  Selim  Diab,  my  first  teacher,  114, 

"S 

Abyssinians,  81 

Adonis  myth,  129,  130,  131 

Aiken,  22,  23,  24 

Albert  Edward,  Prince  of  Wales,  visit  to 
Beirut,  247  ;  captured  by  Bedawy,  248 

Ali  Beg,  Hamady,  102,  103 

American  influence  summarized,  793 

American  naval  officers,  764 

American  products  and  devices,  intro- 
duced by  missionaries,  360-361 

American  rights  in  Turkey,  489  ;  pro- 
tected by  England,  621,  622;  Senator 
Sherman's  unpatriotic  stand,  622  ;  in- 
effective status  of  our  minister,  644 ; 
Oscar  Straus's  influence,  644  ;  Consul 
Ravendal's  efficiency,  644 ;  Consul- 
General  Dickinson  probes  the  Spaf- 
fordites,  647  ;  pecuniary  estimate,  651  ; 
attack  on  United  States  consul,  729; 
Leishman's  reason  for  ineffectiveness, 
740 ;  resigning  American  citizenship, 

Anderson,  Rufus,  D.  D.,  17,  24,  34,  42, 

52,97 
Angell,  Minister  to  Turkey,  643 
Anglican  High  Church  hostility,  475 
Anti-Chalcedonians,  79 
Anti-Ephesians,  79 
Antioch,  17;  destroyed,  414 


9«I 


Antiques  and  archaeological  finds,  265 ; 
Shapira's  spurious  Moabite  collec- 
tion, 423  ;  Phcenician  antique  factory, 
505  ;  supposed  sarcophagus  of  Alex- 
ander, 507  ;  the  wonderful  fluid  pre- 
servative, 507 ;  the  Dog  River  in- 
scriptions, 539-540 ;  the  Arabic  tablets 
in  China,  461  ;  Hadrian's  forest  pre- 
serve   boundary,    741 ;    German   aid, 

751 

Apologetics  in  Arabic  :  the  "  Bakurat," 
567 ;  the  "  Minar  ul  Hoc,"  602 

Arabi  Pasha  Rebellion,  471  et  seq. 

Arabic  Bible — see  Bible 

Arabic  books  for  use  in  New  York,  756 

Arabic  encyclopEedia,  484-486 

Arabic  language,  a  barrier,  21,  290,  361 ; 
studying,  114;  its  use  in  the  college, 
304;  mispronunciations,  361;  its  use 
in  theological  school,  496 ;  style  of  in 
Bible,  75 ;  style  of  in  preaching,  56, 
142,  746 ;  style   of  in  letter  writing, 

"5 

Araman,  Michaiel,  488 

Araman,  Lulu,  his  wife,  672 

Archaeology — see  Antiques  supra 

Armenians  (sect),  81 

Armenian  massacres,  1894,  bo^et  seq., 
614;  1896,  617;  Hopkinson  Smith's 
error,  620-621  ;  see  Cilician 

Arrak,  Syrian  whiskey,  effect,  731 

Arthur,  Chester  A.,  appoints  author 
minister  to  Persia,  480 

Asir,  Sheikh  Yusef,  helping  translate 
Bible,  75 

Ata,  Musa  or  Moosa  (the  Zahleh  Prot- 
estant), 155  ;  his  death,  415  et  seq. 

Aurora  borealis,  374 

Baalbec,  exploration  of  after  Emperor 
William's  visit,  655 

Babcock,  Maltbie,  D,  D.,  at  Beirut,  698 ; 
his  father  and  the  author,  699 

Babism,  329,  605,  636-638;  American 
women  deluded,  687,  688 ;  the  shal- 
lowness of  the  cult,  687-688 

Baker,  Mrs.  Walter,  41,  330,  336 


822 


Index 


Bakir's  compromise  religion,  538 ;  his 
interview  with  Henry  A.  Nelson, 
D.  D.,  538 

"  Bakurat,"  the  great  Arabic  apologetic, 
567 

Baptism,  in  Greek  church,  Zdetseq.; 
among  Jacobites,  87 

Barakat,  Laiya,  488 

Barber,  Alice  S.,  222 

Barnes,  Albert,  16 

Barudi,  Beshara,  ordination,  757 

Bedawy  Arabs,  reaching  with  Gospel, 
359-360,  581;  the  ghazu,  359,  581  ; 
Sheikh  Mohammed's  visit,  407 

Bedr,  Yusef,  native  pastor,  313,  346,439 

Beirut,  19,  25,  45  ;  in  1863,  265  ;  water 
works,  441  ;  election  of  1880,  466 

Beirut  church — see  Native  Church  : 
Syria  Mission 

Beha-ullah,  the  Babite,  637 

Benefactors  of  the  work,  371 

Benton,  W.  A.,  22,  24 

Berbari,  Muallim  Rizzuk,  499 

Berry,  Philip  and  wife,  two  years'  serv- 
ice, 269 

Bible  (see  Translation  also) ;  misconcep- 
tion of  its  character,  36 ;  forbidding 
its  circulation  in  1824,  36;  version 
originally  used,  37  ;  priestly  antago- 
nism, 37,  38,  82,  83;  government 
sanction,  78 ;  government  interfer- 
ence, 590;  casting  the  type,  55,  108; 
translators  of,  66  et  seq.  ;  enormous 
circulation,  78,  220;  in  1892,  591 ; 
vo welled  New  Testament  issued,  250 ; 
demand  increasing,  286  ;  bought  with 
a  sword,  296  ;  used  m  Russian  schools, 
619 ;  1905  a  banner  year,  753  ;  duty 
of  American  Bible  Society,  759-760 

Bibliography,  801 

Bird,  Emily,  daughter  of  William,  serves 
thirty  years  without  furlough,  460 ; 
her  lovely  work,  682 

Bird,  Isaac,  22,  29,  34,  36 ;  his  life  and 
work,  42  et  seq.  ;  his  "  thirteen  let- 
ters," 45 ;  introduces  the  potato, 
360 

Bird,  William,  102  ;  his  courage  during 
the  massacre,  188  ;  his  life  and  death, 
']\\  et  seq. 

Bistany,  Butrus,  55,  106,  402 ;  helps 
translate  the  Bible,  70 ;  his  wife's 
death,  295  ;  his  school,  304 ;  his  death, 
483  ;  his  work,  270,  484 

Bistany  (the  priest),  218,  483 

Bistany,  Soleyman  Effendi,  translator  of 


the  "  Iliad,"  746  ;  member  of  Parlia- 
ment, 747  n. 

Black,  James,  49 ;  his  integrity,  465  ; 
death,  465 

Bliss,  Daniel,  D.  D.,  19,  22 ;  named  for 
college  president,  241  ;  starts  to  United 
States  to  raise  funds,  241  ;  his  efibrts 
in  England,  28 1,  297  ;  his  remark  to 
Lord  Shaftesbury,  282.  See  Chap, 
XIII,  p.  298  for  full  reference  to  the 
Syrian  Protestant  College  ;  succeeded 
by  his  son,  711  ;  his  final  report,  722 ; 
the  statue,  742 

Bliss,  Howard  S.,  inaugurated,  711, 
721  ;  his  spiritual  zeal,  739 

Blyth,  Bishop,  his  pitiful  narrowness, 
475,  568,  573  ;  Dr.  Van  Dyck's  sum- 
mary, 575 

Boocy  and  his  bones,  489 

Bookkeeping,  a  part  of  training,  716 

Booth,  Wilham  A.,  visits  Beirut,  166; 
helps  endow  girls'  school,  2S0 ;  his 
son  dies  at  Beirut,  1869,  347  ;  memo- 
rial in  his  name,  348  ;  death,  1896, 617 

Boxer  massacres,  should  they  deter  mis- 
sions ?  692 

British  Syrian  Schools,  227  et  seq. 

Brown,  Arthur  J.,  D.  D.,  222 ;  advises 
more  itinerating,  649 ;  his  visit  to 
mission,  709 

Brummana  conferences  (for  spiritual  up- 
lift), 651,  703;  F.   B.  Meyer's  help, 

703.  747 
Bryan,   Wm.   Jennings,   Chrysostom  of 

Democracy,  769  ;  visits  Beirut,  770 
Bulwer,  Sir  Henry,   called   down,   284 

et  seq. 
Burial,  using  graves  over,  254 
Bush,  Caroline  (author's  first  wife^,  17; 

illness  and  death,  278  et  seq, 

Cairo,  conference  of  1906,  765  et  seq. 

Calhoun,  C.  William  (son  of  Simeon), 
340;  returns  as  a  missionary  in  1879, 
442-443, 460  ;  death,  482 

Calhoun,  Simeon  (the  Saint  of  Lebanon), 
22,  23,  24,  95,  97  ;  his  life  and  work, 
97  et  seq.  ;  trusted  by  every  sect,  loo, 
loi,  170;  death,  103,  104,  442;  his 
delightful  companionship,  430 ;  his 
wife  returns  to  Syria,  442,  454 ;  his 
daughter  Susan  also,  442,  460;  his 
wife's  death,  782 

Cana  of  Galilee,  its  real  site,  54 

Carabet,  Dionysius,  archbishop  of  Jeru- 
salem, 48 


Index 


823 


Carabet,  Meleta,  teacher,  711 

Carruth,  Miss,  222 ;  sails  for  Syria,  341 

Carslaw,  William,  M.  D.,  enters  work  in 
Lebanon  Schools,  384  ;  ordained,  384, 
488 

Cedars  of  Lebanon,  location  and  char- 
acter, 133-141  ;  the  sale  of  the  slabs, 
456;  age  of  trees,  457 

Censorship  of  press — see  also  Mission 
Press,  433,  505,  542,  549,  586,  625, 
694,  719 

Chaldeans  (sect),  79 

Chi  Alpha,  author's  appreciation  of,  341 

Children  of  missionaries,  long  separa- 
tions, 527 

Cholera,  in  1865,  283,  286,  443;  in 
1866,  311;  in  1875,  443;  ^"  1890, 
569 ;  Moslem  fatalistic  view  of,  289- 
445;  among  Mecca  pilgrims,  6oi- 
602 ;  generally  see  Chap.  XX,  430 
et  seq. ;  in  1894,  614;  in  1903, 
719 

Christian  Endeavour  party,  visit  to 
Beirut,  691 

Church  of  England  hostile  to  prosely- 
tism,  84 

Church  of  Scotland,  schools,  231  ;  joins 
in  church  service,  293,  347;  deeds 
over  Shweir  Mission,  666 

Church,  F.  A.,  the  artist,  visits  Petra, 
340  ;  his  dragoman's  ready  wit,  340  m. 

Churches — see  Property 

Church  bell  and  clock,  natives  subscribe 
for,  347  ;  new  one  arrives,  410 

Churchill,  Col.,  174 

Cilician  massacre  of  1908,  794 

Clark,  N.  G,,  D.  D.,  secretary  A.  B.  C. 
F.  M.,  visit  to  Syria,  411 

Clifton  Springs  Conference,  6n 

Close  Brethrenism,  431 

Coffee  drinking,  118 

Coffing,  murder  of,  246  et  seq. 

Comity,  obstacles  to,  357  ;  pleasure  of, 
402,  474;  conference  with  Bishop 
Gobat,  424 

Constitution — see  Turkish  Government 

Converts,  sundry  notable  ones:  Antonius 
Yanni,  q.  v. ;  Abu  Selim,  414;  Asaad 
Shidiak,  q.  v. ;  Selim  Toweel,  his 
trance,  253 ;  Weheby  Aatiyeh,  265  ; 
Ishoc  es  Shemmaa,  308,  329,  402 ; 
Elias  Saadeh,  318  f/  seq.;  Beshara 
Haddad,  322  et  seq.  ;  Hanna  Bedr, 
^2^et  seq.  ;  Jedaan,  q.  v.-;  Kamil,  q. 
V. ;  Yakub  Surruf,  Dr.,  430 ;  Naamet 
Ullah,  635  ;  a  Jew,  648 ;  Druses,  671, 


686;  Monks,    6']%et  seq.,   698,   715; 
Tabet,  Amin,  757  ;  Moslem — see  that 
head 
Converts  "  for  revenue  only,"  291,  350, 

354,  355.  413.  543.  635 

Cook's  tourists,  717-718 

Copts  (sect),  81 

Cranks  and  peculiar  people  :  the  roving 
Englishman,  271  ;  the  prophetic  Eng- 
lishwoman, 313;  the  death  abolisher, 
539;  Baldwin  and  Richmond,  546 
et  seq.  ;  the  "  Forerunner,"  582;  the 
Shechemite  swindler,  749 

Crocker,  Charles,  visits  Beirut  and  frees 
a  slave,  431 

Cundall,  Miss,  teacher  at  Tripoli,  460 

Cuyler,  Theodore,  D.  D.,  visits  Beirut, 
470 

Dale,  Gerald  F.,  enters  the  danger- 
ous Zahleh  field,  427  ;  bravery  amidst 
cholera,  443 ;  the  people  won  by  his 
love  and  courage,  444  ;  marries  Mary 
Bliss,  460;  the  memorial  of  his  name- 
sake, 467  et  seq. ;  his  work  and  char- 
acter, 500  ^/ j^^.  ,•  his  death  in    1886, 

499 

Dale,  Gerald  F.,  Mrs.  (Mary  Bliss),  re- 
signs, 623,  751  ;  superintendent  Jesup 
hospital,  623,  751  ;  helps  in  Beirut 
seminary,  656 ;  work  in  moun- 
tain villages,  682;  at  Ras  Baalbec, 
686 

Damascus,  the  massacre  there,  195 
et  seq. ;  the  heavy  punishment,  206, 
207  ;  mosque  of  Amweh  burned,  600 

Danforth,  G.  B.,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  at  Trip- 
oli, 404;  his  death,  441,  442 

DaGd  Pasha,  100,  211  ;  his  inauguration, 
234  ;  yields  to  priestly  influence,  249  ; 
becomes  liberal  in  policy,  254,  266 ; 
a  difficult  role,  27 1;  suppresses  the 
Yusef  Keram  rebellion,  290 ;  suggests 
Sabbath  observance  by  Christian  sects, 
332 

Day,  Alfred  Ely,  reports  on  landslide, 
720 

Dedication,  i 

De  Forest,  H.  A,,  his  life  and  work,  95 
et  seq. ;  death,  147  ;  his  wife's  death, 
618 

Deir  el  Komr,  the  massacre,  186  et  seq. 

Dennis,  James  S.,  D.  D.,  boyhood 
pledge,  18  ;  pledge  renewed  in  man- 
hood, 338,  342 ;  ordained,  343 ;  ar. 
rival  in  Syria,  345 ;  at  head  of  theo. 


824 


Index 


logical  seminary,  345,  404 ;  his  great 
literary  services,  345  ;  goes  to  Zahleh 
after  Mr.  Dale's  death,  502 ;  resigna- 
tion, 587 

Diana,  statue  of,  350 

Disease,  sickness  and  plague :  rabies, 
634  ;  smallpox,  634  ;  Abu  Rikab,  238, 
544 ;  cholera,  q.  v.,  and  see  Chap. 
XX;  fevers,  437;  typhoid,  613,617, 
629;  scarlet  fever  imported,  623; 
epidemics  in  1906,  762 

Divorce  specialist,  570-571 

Dodds,  R.  J.,  D.  D.,  379 

Dodge,  Harriet  Elizabeth,  author's  sec- 
ond wife,  341 

Dodge,  William  E.,  1st,  122,  233,  280, 
617 ;  nominates  author  as  moderator, 
363;  visits  Beirut  in  1 87 1,  412;  lays 
corner-stone,  412;  golden  vi^edding, 
454 ;  death  in  1883,  481  ;  Mrs. 
Dodge's  death,  722 

Dodge,  D.  Stuart,  D.  D.,  visit  in  1 86 1, 
233;  visit  in  1868  to  Petra,  340; 
name  linked  with  Syrian  Protestant 
College,  412;  visit  in  1889,  548 

Dog  River  (Nahr  el  Kelb),  ancient  in- 
scriptions, 236;  water  works,  44 1; 
bone  breccia,  625 

Dogs,  city  colonies,  283,  635  ;  rabies,  634 

Dom  Pedro,  109,  450 

Drought  and  famine,  380-381 

Drunkenness,  a  new  vice  among  Mos- 
lems, 119,  120,  730;  introduced  by 
foreigners,  234,  235,731 

Druses,  100;  nature  of  sect,  157;  unfor- 
tunate test  of  truth  fails,  413 

Duff,  Alexander,  confers  concerning 
Lebanon  Schools,  383 

Dufferin,  Lord,  63,  209;  his  tribute  to 
missionaries,  214 

Dwight,  H.  G.  O.,  53 

Eddy,  Mary  P.,  M.  D.,  her  illness  and 
call  to  service,  545;  arrives  in  1893, 
597  ;  her  work  and  pluck,  720  et  seq. 

Eddy,  W.  W.,  D.  D.,  22,  24;  his  life 
and  death,  682  et  seq. ;  Mrs.  Eddy's 
death,  740;  her  work,  741 

Eddy,  W.  K.,  son  of  W.  W.,  455  ;  his 
sad  death,  771  et  seq.  ;  estimate  of  his 
life,  775  ; 'resignation  of  his  wife,  782 

Educational  missions,  the  argument  for, 
591  et  seq. 

EUinwood,  Frank  F.,  D.  D.,  visits 
Beirut,  283,  441  ;  his  estimate  of 
Kamil,  558 


Emigration  of  Syrians,  93,  360,  463, 
464,  589,  595         . 

English  language,  its  use  in  mission 
schools,  95,  223,  519  ;  effect  of  discon- 
tinuing it,  298 ;  objections  stated, 
301  ;  adopted  by  the  college,  304;  es- 
sential for  theological  students,  348 ; 
summary  of  its  effect,  588,  596, 
716 

Enver  Beg,  head  of  reform  party,  785, 
791  n. 

Epidemics — see  Disease 

Erdman  (Amy  Jessup),  death,  24,  690 

Erdman,  Paul,  339  ;  marriage  to  Amy 
Jessup,  690 ;  goes  to  Tripoli,  760 

Eutychians  (sect),  79 

Evangelistic  work,  what  is,  673,  674 

Everett,  Eliza  D.,  222,  526;  her  por- 
trait, 227  ;  her  selection,  335,  339 ; 
resignation,  61 1  ;  death,  711 

Exploration  of  Palestine :  Lieutenant 
Stevens'  fiasco,  396 

Fasting  (see  Ramadan),  hypocrisy  in, 
626 

Fatalism  vs.  cholera,  445 

Fehad,  Amin,  native  pastor,  782 

Female  education,  59,  222 

Fisher,  222 

Fisk,  Pliny,  25,  29,  33,  34;  his  life  and 
work,  34  et  seq. ;  summary  of  his  la- 
bours, 37 

Foote,  112 

Ford,  George  A.,  son  of  J.  E.,  joins  mis- 
sion in  1881,469;  opens  first  Brum- 
mana  conference,  65 1  ;  marries  Miss 
Booth,  769 — see  Gerard  Institute 

Ford,  J.  Edwards,  22,  23  ;  death  of,  307; 
trusted  by  natives,  360 

Ford,  Mary  T.  M.,  607,  608 

Fossils — see  Geology 

Franco  Pasha,  397  ;  attends  dedication 
of  church,  410  ;  death  of,  431 

Frazier,  Colonel,  63,  loo ;  his  work 
after  the  massacre  of  i860,  206  ;  helps 
start  the  female  seminary,  222 ;  leaves 
Syria,  252 

Freyer,  E.  G.,  secular  agent  for  mission, 
608 ;  arrival,  611 

Fuad  Pasha,  restores  order  after  the  mas- 
sacre, 204 ;  becomes  grand  vizier,  239 

Fuaz,  Elias,  402;  death  of,  455 

Furloughs — the  joy  of  reunion,  336-337 ; 
the  vague  meaning  of  "  rest,"  337  ; 
chapter  on,  363 <?/  seq.;  effect  of, 
723 


Index 


825 


Gabriel,  the  body  servant,  his  sayings, 
728 

Gandolfi,  the  papal  legate,  43 

Geology  of  Syria,  62;  fossils,  123,  125; 
structure  of  the  Lebanon,  124,  294; 
the  building  stone,  124,  125;  litho- 
graphic limestone,  125  ;  the  trap  rock, 
125;  quartz  geodes,  125,  126;  bone 
breccia,  294 ;  imports  from  United 
States,  340  ;  Metaiyyar  collection,  348 ; 
Wm.  Bird's  collection,  714 

Gerard  Institute,  account  of,  ^\2,et  seq. 

German  influences  in  Syria,  662,  and 
context,  693,  751 

Gilman,  Daniel  Coit,  56,  57,  226;  visit 
to,  489;  his  gift,  553 

Goodell,  William,  29,  34,  45  ;  his  life 
and  work,  46^/  seq.,  248 

Gordon  Memorial  College,  a  miscarriage 
of  purpose,  664-666 

Graham,  Harris,  M.  D.,  comes  to  Syrian 
Protestant  College,  544;  terrible  fight, 

634 

Grant,  Dr.,  Egyptologist,  marries  daugh- 
ter of  David  Torrey,  344 

Greek  Church,  Orthodox,  79,  81 ;  its 
teachings,  86  et  seq.  ;  possible  reforma- 
tion, 353,  405;  its  lax  priesthood,  353; 
author's  booklet  concerning,  405,  574; 
its  inadequacy  to  convert  Moslems,  568 

Greek  Catholics,  81 

Greeley,  Horace,  122 

Gregory,  Rufka,  teacher,  335 

Haddad,  Assaf,  author's  cook,  1865- 

1908,  282 
Haddad,  Beshara,  el,  teacher,  326 
Hallock,  Samuel,  press  superintendent, 

arrival,  334 
Hamavify,     Antone,     native      preacher, 

782 
Hanford,  Mrs.,  teacher  at  Tripoli,  vice 

Miss  Kip,  448 
Hardin,    Oscar   J.,  his    great   work   for 

boys,  520  ;  secures   the    Cedar  slabs, 

456 
Harris,   Ira,  M.  D.,  decides  to  go,  486; 

his  Red  Cross  trip,  619 
Hasbeiya,  the  massacre  there  in  i860, 

1 80  et  seq. 
Hatfield,  Dr.,  364 
Hebard,  Story,  58,  59,  226 
Hill,  Timothy,  his  gift  to  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, 486 
Hitchcock,  Roswell  D.,  visit  to  Beirut, 

381 


Hodge,  A.  A.,  D.  D.,  his  ungrateful 
protege,  477 

Holmes,  M.  Carrie,  486,  607,  608,  760 

Holy  Sepulchre,  the  fraudulent  fire,  90 

Hopkins,  Mark,  trains  Simeon  Calhoun, 
97  ;  meets  author,  337,  340 

Home,  O.  M.,  222,  718 

Horse,  necessity  of,  52  ;  Dr,  Bliss's  value 
as  an  adviser,  333 

Hoskins,  Frank  E.,  teacher  at  Syrian 
Protestant  College,  486 ;  marries 
Harriette  Eddy,  531  ;  stationed  in 
Zahleh,  1888,  531  ;  removed  to  Beirut, 
1900.  531.  686 

Hospital,  Asfuriyeh,  for  the  insane,  a 
unique  institution,  521  et  seq.  ;  its  need 
of  funds,  525;  its  organization,  623; 
its  work,  744-745 

Hospital,  Johanniter,  of  the  Knights  of 
St.  John,  230,  317  ;  manned  by  Amer- 
icans,   65 1 

Hospitals,  natives'  dread  of,  616;  Trip- 
oli (Dr.  Harris's),  651 ;  M.  DeW. 
Jesup  (for  women),  623  ;  Greek,  Van 
Dyck's  services  to,  667 

House  of  Rimmon,  the  mosque  of 
Amweh,  601 

Houses,  native,  26,  115,  117,  120 

Hums,  the  native  church,  755-756 

Hunting,  Bernice,  teacher  at  Tripoli,  623 

Hurter,  George  C,  the  mission  printer, 
21,  22,  24;  introduces  kerosene  oil, 
314,  360;  death,  604;  sketch  of  life, 
604 

Hymn-book,  for  children,  56 ;  translat- 
ing the  hymns,  145  ;  publication,  251 

Ibrahim  Effendi,  a  Moslem  convert, 

605 
Ibrahim   Hajj  (M.  D.  ?),  121,  122;   his 

triturate  of  Tribune,  122 
Ibrahim  Michaiel,  ordained,  757 
Ibrahim  Pasha,  59,  60,  160,  386 
Iconolatry    (eikonolatry),    despised    by 

Moslems,     85  ;       taught     by     Greek 

church,  89  ;  in  Russo-Japanese  war,  92 
"  Iliad,"  translation  into  Arabic,  747 
Industrial  work — see  Gerard  Institute 
Insane — see  Hospitals 
Institutional   work,   really   evangelistic, 

673-674 
Iron  smelting  at  Duma,  121 
Islam — see  Moslems 
Ismaeel  Khire  Beg,  murder  of,  152 
Ismael    Pasha    (Gen.    Kmety),   restores 

order  after  the  massacre,  190 


826 


Index 


Ismail  Pasha  (of  Egypt),  succeeds  Said, 

264 
Itinerating,  overdone,  649 

Jacobite  Syrians  (sect),  81,  87,  266 

Jackson,  Ellen,  222 

Jebara,  Ghubreen,  78 

Jebara,  Khuri,  his  address  on  our  schools, 

333 

Jedaan,  missionary  to  his  brother  Beda- 
wins,  360  ;  baptism,  54I 

Jerawan,  Sulleeba,  first  native  pastor  in 
Hums,  243,  244,  286 

Jereed,  the  spear  contest,  563 

Jericho,  the  idiotic  medical  mission 
scheme,  668  et  seq. 

Jerjer,  Yusef,  ordained,  757 

Jerusalem,  pilgrims  to,  421;  Henry  H. 
and  Samuel  Jessup  visit  there,  420 
et  seq.  ;  Sunday-school  convention  at, 
735-740 

Jessup,  Amanda  Harris,  mother  of  au- 
thor, 15 

Jessup,  Anna  Harris,  daughter  of  author, 
born  during  massacre,  193 ;  teaches  in 
Tripoli,  509  ;  also  in  Beirut,  642 

Jessup,  Fannie  M.,  daughter  of  Samuel 
(Mrs.  Jas.  R.  Swain),  teacher  at  Trip- 
oli, 612,  615 

Jessup,  Frederick  Nevins,  son  of  author, 
converted,  494 ;  teacher  at  Syrian 
Protestant  College,  630;  ordained, 
724;  going  to  Persia,  725,  729 

Jessup,  Henry  Harris,  D.  D.,  birth  and 
parentage,  15  ;  decides  to  be  a  mis- 
sionary, 16  ;  preparation  for  service, 
16;  ordained,  18;  sails  for  Syria,  19; 
lands  in  Beirut  February  7,  1856,  19  ; 
first  home  in  Tripoli,  116;  first  Arabic 
sermon,  141  ;  marriage  to  Miss  Bush, 
147  ;  relief  work  in  massacre  year — see 
massacre  of  1 860;  raises  endowment 
for  female  seminary,  223  ;  removal  to 
Beirut  in  i860,  233  ;  variety  of  work, 
237.  4/3.431.545.572;  suggests  es- 
tablishing a  college,  239 ;  death  of 
wife  and  furlough  in  1864,  278  et  seq.  ; 
heavy  labour  in  1865,  286;  receives 
D.  D.  from  Princeton,  288  ;  supervises 
church  erection,  315  ;  nervous  break- 
down, 335  ;  meets  French  evangelical 
leaders  in  1867,  336  ;  hears  of  a  "  Mr. 
Dennis,"  338  ;  addresses  in  Canada, 
338  ;  finds  Miss  Everett,  339 ;  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Dodge,  341,  343 ;  fa- 
ther's death  in  1 868,  343  ;   return  to 


Syria,  344 ;  teaches  theology,  345 ; 
thus  helps  in  training  ninety  young 
men,  348 ;  furloughs  generally,  363 
et  seq.  ;  elected  moderator  of  General 
Assembly,  363,  461  ;  asked  to  take 
chair  in  Union  Seminary,  368 ;  bless- 
edness of  asking  help  of  God's  stew- 
ards, 370 ;  elected  secretary  of  For- 
eign Board,  375 ;  declined  position, 
375  ;  reasons  stated,  375 ;  missionary 
enlistment  is  for  life,  376 ;  moving  an- 
nually to  the  mountains,  377  ;  paper 
before  International  Evangelical  Al- 
liance, 405  ;  testimonial  from  Beirut 
church,  439 ;  whooping-cough  at  64, 
618;  furlough  of  1878,  /^^^etseq.; 
"  Women  of  the  Arabs,"  459  ;  Syrian 
Home  Life,  459 ;  visits  England  in 
1879,  461  ;  death  of  Mrs.  Jessup, 
1881,  471  ;  return  to  United  States  of 
America,  47 if/  seq.;  substitutes  for 
Dr.  Ellinwood,  478 ;  insists  on  sten- 
ographers for  secretaries,  479  ;  raises 
scholarships,  479  ;  appointed  Minister 
to  Persia,  480 ;  calls  on  President  Ar- 
thur, 489 ;  preaches  before  General 
Assembly,  490;  marriage  to  Miss 
Lockwood  in  1884,  493  ;  visit  in  Eng- 
land, 494 ;  promotes  the  hospital  for 
the  insane,  521  ;  adviser  at  Tarsus  for 
St.  Paul's  Institute,  534-535  ;  up 
against  officialdom,  550 ;  Life  of 
Kamil,  554;  book  on  Greek  Church, 
574  ;  papers  before  World's  Congress 
of  Religions,  598 ;  furlough  of  1894, 
605  ;  covermg  the  "  Armenian  ques- 
tion," 606  et  seq.  ;  recurrence  of 
"  stone  fever  "  in  New  York,  608 ; 
activity  of  resting,  609-611 ;  trip  to 
Helouan,  618,  624;  article  on  mis- 
sionary inspiration,  633 ;  a  rest  cure 
on  Mount  Carmel,  686 ;  calling  on 
the  Babite  High  Priest,  687  ;  activity 
at  seventy,  695  ;  a  wetting,  697  ;  let- 
ter at  Yale  Bi-centennial,  705  ;  com- 
mentary on  Pentateuch,  719  ;  support 
assumed  by  Kirkwood  church,  723 ; 
furlough  of  1903,  ']2'^et  seq. ;  ordains 
his  son,  725  ;  the  Los  Angeles  As- 
sembly, 1903,  725 ;  conference  for 
new  missionaries,  726;  Balcom 
Shaw's  dinner,  726;  the  Yale  Alumni 
dinner,  727  ;  pilgrimage  to  South- 
ampton, 728;  fishing,  732;  makes 
model  of  the  college,  734;  returns 
with   Fourth   Sunday-school   Conven- 


Index 


827 


tion,  735 ;  first  visit  to  Algiers  and 
Athens,  736 ;  model  receives  a 
"gold"  medal,  751  ;  paper  on  hin- 
drances for  Constantinople  Confer- 
ence, 754;  jubilee,  758,  761  ;  appeal 
for  Bible  Society,  759 ;  prepares 
"  Mohammedan  Missionary  Problem," 
jdGet  seq.  ;  death  of  wife  in  1907, 
779;  her  unselfish  life,  779;  forecast 
vvrritten  in  1908,  783 

Jessup,  Samuel,  D.  D.,  brother  of  au- 
thor, 17,  19;  chaplain  in  Civil  War, 
234;  ordained,  1861,  238;  resigns 
from  army,  253 ;  first  missionary  to 
cross  ocean  in  steamer,  253  ;  arrives 
in  Beirut,  264;  attack  on  him  in 
1865,  287  ;  removed  from  Tripoli  to 
Beirut  station,  1869,  294;  back  to 
Tripoli,  335,  341  ;  transferred  to  Bei- 
rut in  1882,  487  ;  acts  as  Board  sec- 
retary, 542 ;  death  of  his  wife  Annie 
Jay,  615  ;  return  to  Sidon,  1896,  618  ; 
held  up  by  Moslems,  707 

Jessup,  Stuart  Dodge,  son  of  Samuel, 
teacher  in  Gerard  Institute,  519 

Jessup,  Hon.  William,  LL.  D.,  father 
of  author,  15  ;  relations  to  Lincoln, 
16,  233 ;  defense  of  Albert  Barnes, 
16  ;  consecrates  his  son  to  service,  18  ; 
death,  343 

Jessup,  William,  son  of  author,  birth, 
248 ;  physical  preparation,  344 ;  be- 
comes a  missionary,  248 ;  arrival, 
569  ;  illness  and  bereavement,  628 

Jessup,  William  H.,  brother  of  author, 
his  loyal  service,  696 

Jesup,  Morris  K.,  16,  735  ;  death,  781 

Jews  in  Syria,  sad  condition,  421 ;  Jew- 
ish religious  influence,  657 

Jezzar  Pasha,  his  cruelty,  159 

Johnston,  Howard  Agnew,  D.  D.,  visits 
Beirut,  756-757 

Kamil,.  the  Moslem  Paul,  360,  549,  553 
et  seq.,  635  ;  his  argument  with  Bishop 
Athanasius,  556  ;  death,  559 

Kamil  Pasha,  329-406  ;  his  witty  illus- 
tration, 406 

Kaniseh  (Keneesy)  Mountain,  21 

Kendal],  Amos,  327 

Kessab,  Selim,  native  pastor,  776 

Khairullah,  Ibrahim,  and  Babism, 
636 

Khurshid  Pasha,  his  infamous  character, 
164  ;  his  arrest,  205 

King,  Jonas,  29,  34 ;  his  life  and  work, 


38  et  seq.  ;  his  "  farewell  letters,"  39  ; 
in  Paris,  336 

Kip,  Miss,  at  Tripoli  Girls'  School,  404; 
health  broken,  448 

Kirkwood  church,  undertakes  author's 
support,  723;   visit  to,  733 

Koran  (Korahn),  its  "  divme  "  origin, 
462;  enjoins  wife  beating,  28;  singu- 
lar inscriptions  in  China,  462 

Korany,  Mrs.  Hannah,  her  piety,  648 

Laborde,  Count,  41 

La  Grange,  Miss,  teacher  at  Tripoli,  450 

"  Land  and  the  Book,"  61,  62 

Latins,  80 

Law,  Miss,  222 

Lease  of  mission  property,  150 

Lebanon  (the   mountain  range),  21  ;  its 

glory,   112;    its   geology,   \T,t^et  seq. ; 

its  extent,  157 
Lebanon  (the  province),  210,   211 ;  its 

Christian  pashas,  211 
Lebanon  Hospital  for   the  Insane— see 

Hospitals 
Lights,  oil,  26 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  16 
Locusts,  plagues  of,  310,  586 
Loring,  Sophie  B.,  222,  227 
Lowry,   Isaac   N.   and  wife,  arrival  of, 

335  ;  return  and  death,  344 
Luther,  Martin,  on  work  of  translating, 

67 
Lyons,  J.  Lorenzo,   16,  21,  22,  24,  35, 

529;  first  sermon,   II2;    retires  from 

service,  268  ;  death,  529 
Lyons,    Mary,  teacher   in   Sidon   Semi- 
nary, 269,  618 

Mackie,  Rev.  George  M.,  D.  D.,  suc- 
ceeds Robertson  as  Jewish  missionary 
and  chaplain,  277,  293 

Map  making,  -166,  171,  540;  confisca- 
tion of  maps,  602-603 

Mariolatry,  90 

Maronites  (sect),  79,  81 ;  nature  of  sect, 

Massacre  of  1822,  26 

Massacre  of  i860,  63,  Chap.  VIII,  157 

et  seq.  ;  relief  work,  for  sufferers,  173, 

194,  195,  205-213;  end  of,  251 
Massacre,  Armenian,  q.  v.,  and  see  Cili- 

cian 
Medical  agencies — see  Appendix,  802 
Medical  missionaries — see  Appendix,  802 
Meigs,   Titus   B.,  visit   to  Beirut,  699; 

host  to  author,  732 


828 


Index 


Meshaka,  Dr.,  of  Damascus,  55 ;  pe- 
culiar effect  of  wound,  200;  his  life, 

53° 

Meteoric  showers,  1869,  316  ;   1885,  499 

Metheny,  David,  M.  D.,  sketch  of,  627 

Miriam,  Sitt  (Lady),  her  preaching,  537 

Mission — see  Syria  Mission 

Mission  Press,  25,  219,  220;  its  type  a 
norm  of  excellence,  362 ;  Professor 
Orne's  estimate,  434 ;  its  difficult  pol- 
icy under  governmental  regulation, 
433,  505  ;  examples  of  idiotic  censor- 
ship, 433,  434,  603,  625,  694;  Dr. 
Thomson's  prophecy,  437  ;  regularized 
by  "-permit "  after  fifty-four  years, 
542 ;  new  machine  donated,  590 ; 
celebrating  the  gift,  681  ;  Marcellus 
H.  Dodge's  gift,  741,  753;  record  for 
1907,  778-779 ;  record  for  1908,  782. 
For  statistics  see  Appendix,  815 
et  seq. 

Mission  schools  ( see  Schools)  ;  compe- 
tition with  others,  334 ;  generally 
Chap.  XXII,  10%  et  seq.  For  sta- 
tistics see  Appendix,  805  et  seq. 

Missionaries'  names  and  records — see 
Appendix,  797  et  seq. 

Missionary  Convention  at  General  As- 
sembly :  suggested  by  author,  378 ; 
carried  out  by  Thos.  Marshall,  378 

Missionary  monthly  concert,  occasion  of 
author's  missionary  purpose,  16;  great 
link  for  missionary  to  home  church, 
428 

Missionary  children  return  as  mission- 
aries, 469 

Missionary  activities,  491,  685 

Missionary  benevolence,  631 

Missionary  inspiration,  633 

Missionary  ideals,  704  et  seq. 

Missionary  hindrances,  paper  on,  754 

Missionary's  staying  powers,  695 

Mitchell,  Arthur,  D.  D.,  visits  to  Beirut, 
277.  559;  death,  603 

Mitchell,  Samuel  S.  and  wife  (Lucy 
Wright),  short  service,  332,  344 

Moghubghub,  Khalil,  1 12 

Mohammedans — see  Moslems 

Monastic  life,  680 

Monks,  escaped,  678^/  seq. 

Monophysites  (sect),  79 

Monsur,  Nicola,  113 

Montgomery,  Mrs.  Giles,  647 

Moore,  Franklin  T.,  M.  D.,  marries 
Ethel  Hyde  Jessup,  642 

Moslems,  temperance,  119,  120;  respect 


for  Christ,  132,  133;  contempt  of 
image  worship,  85  ;  stumble  at  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity,  90,  144  ;  schools, 
221 ;  conversions,  instances  of,  547, 
565.  570.  572,  616,  635,  652,  686, 
691,  698,  see  Kamil ;  in  different 
lands,  462-463  ;  outnumbered  in  Bei- 
rut, 466 ;  total  number  of,  654,  662, 
693,  768 ;  religious  propagandism, 
657  ;  appreciation  of  our  schools,  668, 
707  ;  attack  on  our  system,  760-761  ; 
repudiated  by  others,  761 ;  two-thirds 
are  under  Christian  rule,  768 ;  fine 
traits,  780 ;  immunity  for  crimes 
against  Christians,  693 ;  respect  for 
"  tradition,"  697  ;  the  Shiah  rejection, 
697  ;  prospects  of  Pan-Islamism,  791 

Mott,  Augusta  Mentor,  576 

Mott,  John  R.,  addresses  in  Beirut,  612 

Muir,  Sir  William,  letter  about  Kamil, 
554 ;  author's  friend  and  correspond- 
ent, 461,626;  estimate  of  "  Minar  ul 
Hoc,"  602 ;  his  appeal  to  Moslems, 
664 ;  should  have  been  Sirdar,  666 ; 
analysis  of  book  on  woman,  700 
et  seq. 

Munger,  Theodore  T.,  D.  D.,  classmate 
of  author,  337 

Murad  V,  Sultan,  449 

Music,  Arab,  56,  25 1 ;  peculiar  inter- 
vals, 251,  252;  possibilities  of  Arabs, 
252;  talent  for,  in  Arabs,  565-566 

Muzuffar  Pasha,  his  unlamented  death, 
778 

Naaify,   Sitt   {i.  e..  Lady),  a  Syrian 

Jezebel,  178^/  seq. 
Naoom  Pasha,  takes   office,  585 ;  reap- 
pointed, 636 
Native  Church,  organization,  79^/  seq. 
83 ;      attempt     to     reform    Oriental 
Churches,  82 ;    native    Protestant  de- 
mand,   82,    91 ;  wisdom    of  such   or- 
ganization, 84 ;  Presbyterian  in  form, 
93 ;    self-support    possible,    93,     155, 
359,  749;  problem  of  native  pastorate, 
311,  345,  346,  356;  Yusef  Bedr,  the 
first,  346;  Arthur  Mitchell's  influence 
to   that    result,    560;   cost    of  church 
buildings,  680 
Native  management,  240,  535,  749 
Native  pastors — see  Theological  Instruc- 
tion   Native   Church,  and   individual 
names 
Nelson,  Bessie,  teacher  at  Sidon,  470 
Nelson,  William,  joins  mission,  495,  531 


Index 


829 


Nestorians,  79,  8 1 
Nestorian  Catholics,  81 
Newspapers,  none  in  1856,  131 
Newton,  Richard,  D.  D.,  visit  to  Beirut, 

380 ;  his  books  put  into  Arabic,  380 
Niazi  Beg,  785,  794 
Nichol,   G.   J.,   D.   D.,  pastor   at   Bing- 

hamton,  681,  734 
Nicol,  James  H.,  arrives  at  Tripoli,  760 
Nofel,  Effendi,   159,  509 ;    his  life  and 

character,  526 
Nusairiyeh,  a  mystic  faith,  255  ^/j^^. 

Old  School  and  New  School  reunion, 
373 ;  effect  on  Syria  Mission,  373 
et  seq. 

Oriental  sects,  79  et  seq. 

Oriental  papal  sects,  80  ^/  seq.,  659 

Oriental  Christian  churches,  93  and  con- 
text 

Orphanage  at  Sidon,  gift  of  Mrs.  Wood, 

653 
Orthodox  Greeks,  79,    81 ;   a  "coney" 

influence,  659 
Owad,   Sheikh,   teaches   Arabic   to   the 

"infidel,"  115 

Painting,  native  talent,  566 
Palgrave,  William  Gifford,  295 
Pan-Islamism,  effect  of  new  constitution, 

791 

Papal  influences  in  Syria,  659 

Parentage  and  youth  of  author,  \i^  et  seq. 

Park,  Edwards  A.,  visit  to  Beirut,  381 

Parliament  of  Religions,  598,  638,  639 ; 
observations  on  its  results,  639,?^  seq. 

Parsons,  Levi,  29 ;  his  life  and  work, 
32  et  seq. ;  summary  of  his  labours,  37 

Patton,  Francis  L.,  D,  D,,  as  a  parlia- 
mentary pilot,  364 

Perkins,  Justin,  51 

Pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  601 

Pioneer  work,  31  ^^  seq. 

Pliny  Fisk  Hall,  35 

Poisoning,  via  coffee,  118,  119 

Political  activity  of  missionaries  (see 
Snakes  in  Ireland),  642 ;  Stead's 
error,  667 

Pollard,  G.  A.,  19 

Polygamy  in  Syria,  28 

Pond,  Theodore,  comes  from  Mardin, 
405 

Post,  Dr.  George  E.,  arrival,  272;  his 
eminence  in  many  ways,  272;  at- 
tempt to  kill,  287 ;  tries  to  carry  two 
watermelons,  314;  resigns  as  mission- 


ary, 334;  in  order  to  work  in  new 
college,  334;  great  work  on  Flora  of 
Syria,  626 ;  serious  accident,  747 

Prayer,  sundry  instances,  399,  400; 
value  to  worker  of  home  church's 
prayer,  429 

Preaching  in  simple  Arabic,  56 

Preaching  by  living,  491 

Prefatory  note,  7 

Preparation  for  mission  work,  Chap.  I 

Presbyterian  Church,  United  States  of 
America,  takes  charge  of  Syria  Mis- 
sion after  reunion,  373 

Presbyterian  form  of  native  church,  93  ; 
not  of  paramount  importance,  356  ;  but 
well  adapted,  475 

Presbyteries  in  Syria,  356,  470,  623 ; 
nature  of,  356 ;  meetings  of,  627,  749 

Press  censorship — see  Mission  Press 

Prime,  Edward,  50,  52 

Prime,  Irenseus,  D.  D.,  50,  52 

Printing  in  Syria  in  1856,  27 ;  see  Mis- 
sion Press 

Proctor,  Louisa,  777 

Property,  difficulty  of  acquiring,  673, 
752;  wukf  or  religious  entail,  677; 
cost  of  churches,  680 ;  manse  building, 
624 

Protestants  (see  Syrian);  false  move- 
ments to  become,  242,  350,  351,  352; 
activity  of  influence,  (>6oet  seq. 

Prussian  deaconesses,   230 

Quarantine,  106,  614 
Quilliam,  the  English  pseudo  Moslem, 
S77  ^t  seq. 

Railroad,  1892,  585 

Ramadan,  the  Moslem  fast,  400  ;  which 
sunset  turns  into  feast,  401 

Relics — see  Superstitions 

Religion  in  Syria,  its  many  forms,  27 ; 
its  formal  character,  27 

Religious  liberty,  from  Moslem  stand- 
point, 267,  380 

Retrenchment,   237  ;  work  jeopardized, 

239 

Revolution  of  1908 — see  Turkish  Gov- 
ernment 

Riggs,  Elias,  51 

Riggs  party  tour,  698 

Riley,  Henry  A.,  author's  pastor  in 
childhood,  his  heirs'  gift,  728 

Roads,  117,  118 

Robert  College,  compared  with  Syrian 
Protestant  College,  737 


830 


Index 


Robertson,  Rev,  J.,  D.  D.,  first  mission- 
ary under  Beirut  Jewish  Mission,  277  ; 
becomes  chaplain  of  Anglo-American 
congregation,  293 
Robinson,  Edward,  D.  D.,  26,  52 
Robinson,  Charles  S.,  D.   D.,  364,  369, 
381,  646;  his  great  work  in  hymnol- 
ogy,  678 
Romance  of  Ezekiel  the  Jew,  560 
Roosevelt,  Theodore,  Sr.  and  Jr.,  visit  to 

Beirut,  407  ;  the  donkey,  730 
Russian  religious  efifort,  660 
Russo-Turkish  War,  450,  452,  453 
Rustum    Pasha,    121  ;    ablest   governor, 
397  ;  friendship  with  Mr.  Dale,  398 ; 
Dr.    Post   wins  his  help  for  the    col- 
lege, 399 

Saad,  Tannus,  native  preacher,  777, 
782 

Saadeh,  Elias,  113,  144;  death,  711 

Sabbath  observance,  332,  395  ;  English 
disregard  of,  in  Egypt,  665 

Sabony,  Saleh  (rough  h. ),  144,  145,  412 

Said  Pasha,  264 

Saladin's  tomb,  654,  655 

Sarkis,  Ibrahim,  402 

Sarkis,  Khalil,  editor,  741 

Sarroof,  Dr.,  109 

Schaff,  Philip,  D.  D.,  visits  Beirut,  451 ; 
his  Latin  address,  451 

Schauffler,  W.  T.,  51 

Schools,  use  of  English,  95,  223  ;  put  on 
pay  basis,  249 ;  stand  test  of  public 
examinations,  333  ;  government  inter- 
ference, 436,  533,  543  ;  individual  ap- 
preciation of,  668;  revivals  in,  710; 
irade  of  immunity,  778 ;  De  Forest 
School  for  Girls,  95  ;  Abeih  Seminary, 
98,  107,  235 — closed,  237,  453 — reor- 
ganized, 448  ;  Hamath  (girls),  426  ; 
Suk  el  Gharb,  strengthens  the  local 
church,  504 — boys,  508 — account  of, 
520;  Sidon,  girls,  241,  448,  510 — 
boys,  508 — Industrial,  see  Gerard  In- 
stitute ;  Tripoli,  404 — property  for 
girls'  school,  430 — growth,  433 — his- 
tory, 508  ^^  j^i/.  ;  Shweir,  508;  Beirut 
Female  Seminary,  222  et  seq. — my  in- 
terest in  its  establishment,  280 — funds 
come  in,  295 — success  at  last,  310; 
demand  for,  in  i860,  219 ;  British 
Syrian,  227 — author's  rela«tion  to,  454, 
474 — assume  the  Shemlan  work,  682; 
Mrs.  Watson's,  231,  270,  682;  Mos- 
lem, 221 ;  Church  of  Scotland,  231 ; 


Miss     Taylor's,    231;     Druse,    244; 

Lebanon,    or  "  Sulleeba,"  conference 

concerning    with    Scotch    committee, 

383.     For  statistics  see  Appendix,  805 

et  seq. 
Secretaries  of  Foreign  Board,  377  and 

note  ;  value  of  their  visiting  missions, 

675-676 
Scranton,  its  Christian  men,  340;  gives 

the  bell  for  Beirut,  340 
Shaftesbury,  Earl  of,  47 
Shaw,  John  Balcom,  D.  D.,  visit  to  Bei- 
rut, 691 
Shazaliyeh  (sect),  538 
Shekkoor,  Hanna,  254 
Shepard,  Elliott  F.,  tour  with,  497  ;  his 

liberality,  498,  752 
Shidiak,  Asaad,  the  martyr,  29,  35,  40, 

43,  49,  183,  353;  Sir  Arthur  Cotton's 

letter,  681 
Sidon,  743  et  seq.  ;  the  work  there,  744 
Sketching,  native  superstition,  35 
Smair,  Sheikh  Mohammed,  92 
Smith,    Eli,    17,    22,    23 ;    his   life    and 

work,    5 1  et  seq.  ;    Bible    translation, 

70;    death,     108,    146;    the    Gilman 

memorial,  56,  553 
Smith,  Henry  B.,  visit  to  Beirut,  381 
Snakes,  116,  327,  380,  746;  as  a  means 

of  grace,  379 
Snow,  21 

Soleyman  Effendi,  255 
Spanish  War,  646 
Stanley,  Dean,  247,  248 
Stead,  Wm.'T.,  his  erroneous  estimate  of 

missions,  667 
Straus,  Oscar,  protects  American  rights, 

533;  visits  Beirut,  534;  his  influence, 

644 
St.  Paul's  Institute  at  Tarsus,  534,*7io, 

754 

Stuart,  Archibald,  his  early  death,  627 

Suez  Canal,  276 

Sultans :  Abdul  Medjid,  234 ;  Abdul 
Aziz,  234,  332;  Abdul  Hamid  II, 
449,  781  ;  Mohammed  V,  794 

Sunnin  (Mount),  21 

Sunstroke,  96 

Superstitions,  three  hairs  of  Mohammed, 
245  ;  one  of  his  shoes  found,  425 

Syria,  its  condition  in  1856,  27  ;  after 
the  massacre  of  i860,  216-221  ;  first 
telegraph,  265 ;  geology  in,  62,  123 
et  seq.;  storms,  128,  131,  241,  265, 
435'  572-573.  612,  682;  its  people, 
their  attractive  traits,  689 


Index 


831 


Syria  Mission,  its  state  in  1856,  20 
et  seq. ;  isolation  of  missionaries  a 
failure,  24 ;  language  examination, 
115;  statistics  for  1857,  153;  seven 
stations  occupied  by  1859,  156;  con- 
dition at  time  of  massacre,  176;  i860 
a  critical  year,  215  ;  results  then  ac- 
complished, 216^/  seq,;  its  state  at 
end  of  1862,  254;  at  end  of  1863, 
272;  decides  to  build  Beirut  church, 
293  ;  corner-stone  laid,  330  ;  the  bell, 
331,  410;  dedication  of  church,  1869, 
346;  outlook,  1869,  358-359;  the 
critical  year  of  transfer,  yj^et  seq.  ; 
jubilee  week,  November,  1873,  401 ; 
reinforced,  403  ;  condition  thereupon, 
405;  reinforced  in  1879,  460 ;  or- 
ganizes presbyteries,  470;  comity 
with  other  missions,  474 ;  personnel 
in  1884,  495  ;  need  of  reinforcement 
in  1892,  587 ;  policy  as  to  manses, 
624,  743;  the  twenty-five  per  cent, 
cut  of  1897,630;  missionaries  asked 
to  contribute,  631  ;  statistics  for  1897, 
641 ;  religious  forces  at  work  in  1898, 
(it)(>et  seq.;  progress  in  1904,  752; 
statistics  for  1900,  694 — see  Appen- 
dix, 809,  814  I?/  seq. 

Syrian  Protestants,  in  1856,  25 ;  de- 
mand a  native  church,  82,  91  ; 
number  in  1862,  242;  systematic 
beneficence,  243 ;  missionary  giving, 
266;  itinerating,  272;  conversions 
slow,  275 

Syrian  Protestant  College,  the  first  sug- 
gestion, 239;  the  mission  vote,  24  x ; 
Daniel  Bliss  set  apart,  242;  framing 
by-laws,  274,  Chap.  XIII,  p.  298 
et  seq.  ;  its  first  faculty,  304 ;  model  of, 
by  author,  awarded  gold  medal  at 
St.  Louis,  306;  trustees'  meeting  in 
New  York,  339;  attendance  in  1873, 
405  ;  faculty  in  1884,  496;  attendance 
in  1898,  652;  attendance  in  1900, 
694;  original  pledge  to  Christianity, 
707  ;  board  of  managers  dissolves, 
709 ;  the  rebellion  vs.  college  chapel, 
787 — see  Appendix,  8i6ei  seq. 

Taxation,  for  roads,  118 

Taylor,   Jessie,    schools,  232-315,    72I; 

her  death  and  work,  763 
Temperance   reading-room,  founded  by 

Mrs.  Jessup,  685 
Temple,  Daniel,  47 
Tenny,  Mary  E.,  19 


Theological  instruction,  345 ;  first  class, 
346 ;    faculty,    346 ;    various  instruct- 
ors, 346;    division    of   subjects,    348 
request  in   1870  for  endowment,  385 
faculty   in    1879,     463;  building   be 
gun,   470;    building  dedicated,   488 
faculty  in   1884,496;  six  graduates  in 
1888,    531 ;    faculty    in     1894,    605 
building    sold    to   college,    624;  sixty 
trained  by   1898,   653 ;  as   a  summer 
school,      664 ;     five       graduates      in 
1900,    686;    six    graduates   in    1 90 1, 
716 

Thompson,  Mrs.  J.  Bowen,  founder  of 
British  Syrian  Schools,  227  ;  death  of, 
349 ;  her  work,  349 

Thomson,  Emilia,  49,  64,  222,  450 

Thomson,  Henry  E.,  business  manager, 
292 

Thomson,  William  M.,  D.  D.,  17,  22, 
26;  his  life  and  work,  57  ^^  seq.; 
touring  Palestine,  146 ;  visit  to  Egypt, 
275;  resignation,  450;  death,  603 

Tolles,  Miss,  222 

Translation  (see  Bible)  ;  its  difficulty, 
66 ;  Luther's  opinion,  67 ;  the  com- 
mittee of  1847,  68;  Van  Dyck's  ac- 
count, 69 ;  list  of  "  helps,"  7 1  et  seq.  ; 
method  of  work,  74,  75  ;  celebrating 
its  completion,  76,  282 

Tripoli,  my  life  while  stationed  there, 
iiZet  seq.,  143;  Great  Mosque,  143 

Trinity,  an  obstacle  to  Moslem  conver- 
sion, 90,  144 

Tristram,  H.  E.  (Canon  of  Durham), 
visit  to  Palestine,  273 ;  other  visits, 
277,  470,  625  ;  author  visits  him,  281, 
474;  friendship  of,  626 

Trowbridge,  Tillman  C,  19 

Turkish  Government,  revolution  of  1876, 
448;    constitution    proclaimed,    449; 
republished,  781  ;  the  bloodless  revo- 
lution of  July  23,   1908,  785  ;  eff"ects 
of,  786;  attitude  of  people  after,  786 
attitude  of  Moslem  religious  leaders, 
787;  effect  on  the  college,  787;  Par 
liament,  788;    its    make-up,  789;   re 
ligious    future   of  empire,  790 ;    Pan- 
Islamism,  791 ;  relation  to  press,  433 
military  control  of  country,  438,  624 
hostility  to    foreign    work,  438,  621 
hostility  to  mission  schools,  503,  740 
hostility  to  , Bible,  504 ;  irade  evicting 
missionaries,  619;  Sir   Philip   Currie 
thwarts  it,  620 

"  Twain,  Mark,"  visits  Beirut,  335 


832 


Index 


Van  Dyck,  C.  V.  A.,  22,  23  ;  his  mar- 
riage, 49  ft.,  107 ;  Bible  translation, 
69,  71,  73,  95 ;  his  life  and  work,  104 
et  seq. ;  his  jubilee,  109,  549;  his 
modesty,  109 ;  his  tomb,  i ii ;  his  de- 
gree of  L.  H.  D.,  585  ;  dies  of  typhoid, 
613;  marble  bust  presented  by  na- 
tives, 666 ;  his  services  to  Greek  Hos- 
pital, 667 

Venus,  transit  of  1874,  439;  reflections 
suggested  by,  440 

Vidoria-Cattiperdoivn  disaster,  598  et  seq. 

Von  Tassel,  plan  for  Bedawin  conversion, 

Waldmeier,  Theophilus,  founder  of 
the  insane  hospital,  t^zi  et  seq. 

Wassa  Pasha,  attitude  towards  mission, 
532;  death,  585 

Watson,  Mrs.  E.  H.,  schools,  231,  270 

Webb,  Mohammed,  his  revamped  Mo- 
hammedanism, 602 

West,   Robert   H.,  college   astronomer, 

775 

West,  Sarah  E.,  19 

Whales  in  Mediterranean,  474 

Whiting,  George  B.,  23 

William  III  of  Germany,  visits  Beirut, 
653;  decorates  Dr.  Post,  230,  630 ; 
his  tour  and  doings,  653  f/  seq.  ;  effect 
of,  656 ;  effect  of  on  rain  supply,  656  ; 
analyzed,  662 

Wilson,  D.  M.,  17,  22,  23,  24,  149,  176; 
death,  528 

Woman,  her  condition  under  Islam,  27  ; 
degradation,  28 ;  the  curtain  of  sepa- 
ration in  church,  151  ;  in  relation  to 
education,  224 ;  can  be  reached  by 
woman,  229  ;  singing  in  church,  252; 
church  curtain  of  separation,  347 ; 
emancipation  of,  an  epochal  book,  700 


Wood,  Mrs.  George,  her  interest  in  and 
gifts  to  industrial  work,  516^^  seq., 
770;   gives   the   orphanage  at  Sidon, 

653 
Wood,  Frank,   decides   to   go  to  Syria, 
342  ;  transferred  to  Sidon,  435  ;  death, 

453 

Worcester,  D.  D.,  farewell  instructionsto 
Fisk,  29 

Wortabet,  Gregory,  an  Armenian  priest, 
his  conversion,  49 

Wortabet,  John,  M.  D.,  his  son,'49 ;  ap- 
pointed to  medical  staff  of  Syrian 
Protestant  College,  303 ;  declines  na- 
tive pastorate,  345  ;  death,  781  ;  esti- 
mate of,  781 

Wukf,  the  law  of  religious  entail,  677 

Yale   Bicentennial,  705 

Yanni,  Antonius,  112,  115;  his  gift  for 
United  States  soldiers,  281,  391 ; 
sketch  of  his  life,  386  et  seq. 

Yazigy  (Yozzijee),  Sheikh  Nasif,  Arab 
scholar  and  poet,  55  ;  Bible  transla- 
tion, 70 ;  teaches  Dr.jVan  Dyck,  106 ; 
his  funeral,  409 

Y.  M.  C.  A.,  its  need  in  fighting  drunk- 
enness, 685 

Yusef  el  Haddad  (Abu  Selim),  98,  113 

Yusef  el  Azir  (the  Mufti),  106,  145 

Yusef  Bedr,  244 

Zahleh  (middle  h.  rough),  Dodds'  at- 
tempt to  enter  it  in  1858, 154;  Benton's 
attempt  in  1859,  154;  battle  of,  185; 
an  attractive  field,  235  ;  excitement  at 
Moosa  Ata's  death,  416^/ j^^.  /  occu- 
pied 1872  by  Mr.  Dale,  427 ;  Mr. 
March  joins  him,  1873,  427  ;  Hoskins 
stationed  there  in  1888,  503;  Wm. 
Jessup  joins,  569;  manse  built,  624 


Date  Due 


